The Reasons Heart of Midlothian's Historic Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Surprise.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.