The Reasons Hearts' Historic Championship Challenge Shouldn't Come as a Shock.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.