Why Hearts’ historic title tilt shouldn’t come as a surprise

HEARTS ON FIRE Perhaps the only surprising thing about Hearts’ victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday was just how surprised people (who presumably don’t pay too much attention to football played north of the border) were when news of the result and its ramifications for the top of the table filtered through. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result. For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold. While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire of a season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic’s slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can’t stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246. “I’ve never worked harder in all my time here,” he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. “So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we’re at. It’s absolutely fine, it’s still so early.” Given the horrific start to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure 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 tiny fraction of Celtic’s as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool. In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side’s chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly. “I don’t think it’s a statement win,” said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side’s latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. “It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there’s a tightrope. But let’s not kid ourselves, we’re really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it’s not a position that this club is used to being in.” No, Derek, it isn’t. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win. QUOTE OF THE DAY “It’s nice to have good human beings who stand up for those who don’t have a voice, who don’t have any power. When everyone seems against them, someone needs to step up. [He] did that again and again. So I’m glad I made the film. We have this moment while [he]’s here and feels it. We’re not waiting till after he’s gone to tell him how much we all love him” – Oscar-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia on why he made a documentary, released this coming weekend, about Kenny Dalglish. Read Donald McRae’s interview with the pair here. FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS My first team was Yeovil Town on the sloping pitch when I was 10 years old growing up in Somerset. Then I lived in Sutton in my early 20s and used to go along there occasionally. In 1979 I started going to Highfield Road because my near neighbour Ian was a Coventry City fan. I adopted them as my team although I sometimes fell asleep during the matches as I’d drunk too much at the Tam o’ Shanter club with his dad. I’ve got my FA Cup final and Charity Shield programmes signed by John Sillett and I’ve even watched them play against Forest Green in League Two. And now they’re being tipped as promotion candidates. It really is the hope and expectation that hurts, isn’t it?” – Leslie Hand. No letter from Noble Francis on Friday about Sheffield Wednesday’s woes? Discarding the chance that you didn’t publish because it wasn’t funny as too remote, can we conclude that Noble has spent the day drinking Tin and missed the deadline?” – Noble Fr Andy Neill. Apropos of nothing, Ange Postecoglou grew up a Liverpool fan” – Jarrod Prosser. Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Jarrod Prosser, who gets a copy of A History of Football in 100 Objects from the Guardian Bookshop, which has loads of other great football reads, too. Get shopping! Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.  RECOMMENDED LISTENING Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the Football Weekly pod squad as they chew over an excellent weekend for Arsenal. RECOMMENDED SUBSCRIBING Prefer pictures to words? Well, Big Website has a brand new weekly newsletter on the way, highlighting the very best sport photographs around. You can subscribe here. But please do still stick with your faithful Football Daily, too. IT’S A LONG WAY TO GO Truro City’s first season in the National League has been a tale of long, fruitless away days – with Saturday’s trip to Gateshead setting a new distance record for an English league fixture at 914 miles. Fans who made the journey witnessed a 2-2 draw and enjoyed a few free pints as reward for their efforts. Truro fans are used to travelling: their nearest rivals this season are Yeovil Town, still 130 miles away. The club also spent more than three years playing home games outside of Cornwall – in Plymouth, Taunton and Gloucester – before moving into their new stadium last season. Fans have endured eight long away trips without seeing a win this season. Next up: a 500-mile round trip to Solihull Moors on 5 November. And if there weren’t already enough reasons to make Truro our new favourite team, their nickname is … the Tinners. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Crewe have been charged with misconduct and allegedly failing to control supporters during September’s 2-1 defeat at home to Barnet, when there were reports of “abusive or indecent” language used by fans, with an “express or implied reference to gender”. A Turkish FA investigation has found that 371 of the 571 referees in the country’s professional leagues have betting accounts – with 152 of them actively gambling. Sheffield Wednesday’s joint administrator has revealed there are “already four or five interested parties” as the Owls head toward new ownership – but the stricken club could face more points deductions after being hit with a 12-point sanction on Friday. Juventus have sacked Igor Tudor after Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Lazio extended their winless run to eight games. Joining him on the wrong side of the door marked Do One is Noel Hunt, given the boot by Reading with the club just two points above the League One drop zone. Ella Toone is wary of Australia pulling off a flamin’ revenge mission against England in Tuesday’s Pride Park friendly. “We broke their hearts at the World Cup,” Toone said of the Matildas, 2023 co-hosts who lost to the Lionesses in the semi-finals. Aberdeen have hired a new sporting director, Lutz Pfannenstiel, who has had quite the life, doing time in a Singapore prison, “borrowing” a penguin from a wildlife colony and keeping it in his bath for two days and needing to be resuscitated three times when playing for Bradford Park Avenue. Read more about his life story here. And over in the League of Ireland, Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley had a busy Sunday. After running the Dublin marathon, he hopped in a helicopter to travel up to his team’s game at Derry City. A win would have secured the title – but Rovers lost 2-1. “It was tough, but worth every minute,” Bradley wheezed afterwards. RECOMMENDED PLAYING Big Website has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It’s now live in the app for IOS and Android … so what are you waiting for? STILL WANT MORE? Ten talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action, right here. Napoli’s win over Inter was smoking hot, with Antonio Conte on the boil as he mouthed off at former players and stuck it to his critics after a tempestuous week, writes Nicky Bandini. Will Still kept Lens competitive last season despite losing key players. They’re climbing even higher under Pierre Sage, reports Luke Entwistle. River Plate are all at sea and banking on a new chief suit with a familiar name to steady the ship, writes Jonathan Wilson. And the experimental Lionesses were exposed by Brazil but it’s not time to panic yet, reasons Sophie Downey. MEMORY LANE Sunderland’s 17-point haul from their first nine Premier League games is the most for a promoted side since 2008, when Phil Brown’s Hull City sat third after a four-game winning run. It couldn’t last: the Tigers won just two of their remaining 29 fixtures, including a defeat at the Etihad which prompted an infamous half-time telling off on the pitch. Hull ended the season with 35 points, but stayed up on the final day at Newcastle’s expense. Brown serenaded home fans after survival was secured, but left the following season as Hull went back down. JUSTICE FOR JIMMY