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.”
