Why Heart of Midlothian's Historic Championship Challenge Shouldn't Come as a Shock.

JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire 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, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.