The Reasons Heart of Midlothian's Landmark Title Tilt Shouldn't Come as a Shock.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current 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 strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's chances 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 most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.