It’s been 40 years since we’ve seen the Scottish Premiership start like this. With both Celtic and Rangers struggling, Hearts are running away with the lead and could become the first non-Old Firm side to win it since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen.

By Alex Roberts

Brendan Rodgers hasn’t lost a league title during his two spells as Celtic manager and that success has made the club lethargic, lazy, and assured of their own greatness, like a banker before the 2008 financial crisis. Surely, they’re too big to fail, right?

Wrong. Their play is slow and predictable, consisting of little more than boring sideways passes with low attacking quality, clearly lacking individuals that can take the game by the scruff of its neck and win it with a moment of magic. Long gone are the days of Shunsuke Nakamura and Henrik Larsson.

Rangers fans would be loving it if they weren’t even worse. The appointment of former Southampton boss Russell Martin has proven disastrous. After just 123 days in charge, with only five wins from 17 games and a 29% win rate, he has been shown the door. Danny Röhl has since taken over.

Even with Scotland’s big two wounded, everything is heavily weighted in their favour. Celtic’s wage bill this season is reported to be £22.5 million to £25.5 million while Rangers are said to be spending £23.5 million.

Breaking that glass ceiling requires something more than simply throwing cash at the situation, the old heads may not like it, but it needs numbers and analytics.

There are few people in the football-sphere better at that than Tony Bloom. The Brighton and Hove Albion owner made his fortune in gambling, so it should come as no surprise that he loves to take a risk in the transfer window.

Bloom has pioneered the use of data to improve efficiency in player recruitment. Brighton don’t just magic the likes of Moisés Caicedo out of thin air before going on to sell them for £100 million, there is a LOT of hard work that goes into find these players.

He invested £10 million in Edinburgh club Hearts back in June, buying a 29% stake while the Foundation of Hearts, a supporter-backed organisation, retain overall control, so it’s not exactly like multiclub entities such as BlueCo, one of Bloom’s best customers.

With Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics firm taking control of Hearts’ recruitment, the club brought in ten players from Iceland to Portugal, including the record £1.7 million transfer of Ageu from Santa Clara.

That partnership is already paying off. Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kiziridis, signed from the relative obscurity of Norway’s second tier and the Slovakian league, have impressed during an unbeaten start to the season.

Don’t just take our word for it, Foundation of Hearts chairman Gerry Mallon has been full of praise for their relationship, telling AFP: “The single most impactful part of this whole package of Bloom involvement is the facilitation of that relationship with Jamestown.

Now, Hearts are five points clear at the top of the Scotting Premiership, and their meeting with current champions Celtic at Tynecastle Park on Sunday (October 26) gives them the opportunity to extend that lead to eight.

They’ve been here before. Back in 2005-06, with George Burley at the Helm, Hearts were sat at the top, with Celtic in second, with seven wins from their opening seven games. They went on a 12-game unbeaten run, winning ten and drawing two.

However, despite their start Burley was ‘sacked’ by then-owner and 2007 Lithuanian Dancing With The Stars winner Vladimir Romanov due to various disagreements, all but destroying the fans collective faith in the Russian they once hailed as a savior.

Hearts would go on to finish second that season, the highest finish in their recent history, but it’s tainted by what could have been. Thankfully, Bloom is no Romanov, and Derek McInnes is showing no signs of wanting to leave any time soon.

McInnes joined in May following a relatively successful two-and-a-half-year spell with Kilmarnock. He’s largely regarded as one of the best managers in Scotland, and has previously been linked with Rangers, a club he spent five years at as a player.

The Edinburgh club had a couple of serious players already there before the summer, most notably Lawrence Shankland. An eight league goal haul in 2024-25 was poor by his standards, especially considering he had bagged 24 in the two seasons before.

Adding Braga and Greek winger Kiziridis, who now have 12 league goal contributions between them, has turned Hearts into a genuine force, leading in terms of goals per match with 2.4, creating 5.8 chances per 90 minutes, and having 261 touches in the opposition box so far.

They’re not just winning games, they’re dominating them, scoring 19 goals and conceding just six, in fact, their only let given up one goal in their previous five league games. Hearts have every right to be top of the table.

With all this talk of numbers, analytics, and data, McInnes has managed to instil that ol’ troupe, wanting it more, into his side. Hearts have won a league high of seven points from losing positions since the start of the season.

McInnes’ lads went 2-1 down to Dundee United in matchday two, only for Stuart Findlay to score a 94^th minute winner. In their next league game against Motherwell, the visitors led 3-0 after 62 minutes; Harry Milne score shortly after before a Braga brace helped earn a draw.

Hearts went behind again when they made the trip to last-placed Livingston, then Braga restored parity just after half time, with Kiziridis bagging yet another stoppage time winner to keep their perfect start intact.

A visit from Celtic is easily their toughest test of the season so far. Rodgers’ side will look to keep the ball as much as possible, they’ve averaged 72.7% possession, but should Hearts win, it could be a giant step towards one of the most impressive feats in football.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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