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

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many time are left until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can win.