Scottish football is on the cusp of a feat that has been described as “incomprehensible” for 41 years and an Australian is at the centre of it.
Edinburgh-based club Hearts of Midlothian are top of the Scottish Premiership table with four games remaining and have the chance to finally break the Celtic-Rangers duopoly.
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No one has beaten the Old Firm since Sir Alex Ferguson took Aberdeen to the title in 1985 before his legendary days at Manchester United.
There is only one active player in the Scottish Premiership who was alive before the Celtic-Rangers stranglehold began – Hearts’ 43-year-old reserve goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
Many in Scottish football have scoffed at past suggestions that the two Glasgow Goliaths could be toppled by David.
But now Hearts fans are daring to dream.
“It would be incomprehensible,” 61-year-old Hearts fan Stuart Wallace told The Telegraph when asked about the prospect of winning the title while having a drink in a pub in Edinburgh Old Town before last weekend’s derby in the Scottish capital.
“It’s absolute immortality. They would never be forgotten. They’ll be talking about in 100 years.”
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STATE OF PLAY
Hearts are three points clear of Celtic on 73 points, while Rangers are four points back after a 3-2 loss at home to fourth-placed Motherwell on the weekend.
Rangers travel to Hearts’ Tynecastle Park in the early hours of Tuesday morning Australian time with the league leaders having the chance to effectively eliminate one of their title rivals.
Former Rangers forward Kris Boyd told Sky Sports: “Rangers have to go there and win, or it’s done.”
What makes the march to the finish line all the more challenging in the Scottish Premiership is ‘the split’.
After 33 games, the 12-team competition is split into two with the top six in Group A and the bottom six in Group B.
Each team plays the other members of their group once to determine the title, European place and relegation.
Points carry over and it means when things are tight, every game becomes crucial and anything can happen.
Depending on how things play out, Hearts’ trip to Celtic Park on the final day could effectively be a grand final against the club who have won the last four league titles – including two under Australian manager Ange Postecoglou.
Hearts, who bare the nicknames ‘The Jam Tarts’ or ‘The Jambos’, know that winning away is the big test of their title credentials.
They are unbeaten at home this season, but made a huge step forward at Easter Road in the Edinburgh Derby against Hibernian last weekend.
The battle of the fierce rivals exemplified a shift in Scottish football.
Fans rejoiced in the stands when it was announced that it would be shown live on TV.
The match was played at 4.30pm on a Sunday and shown on the main channel of a major broadcaster – a rare occurrence for a non Celtic or Rangers match.
Socceroo Martin Boyle opened the scoring for Hibs with an excellent volley at the back post and threatened to take points from Hearts.
Hibs were reduced to just nine men for much of the second half.
Hearts were able to respond through an own goal shortly after the hour mark before Blair Spittal’s 86th minute winner sparked wild scenes in the away end.
“It’s all about can someone come up with the big moment? Blair Spittal scores goals like that every day in training,” Hearts manager Derek McInnes said post-game.
“He’s got such good quality of finishing. He should score more goals. A lot of people could slap that and snatch at it. He keeps his knee over the ball, stays calm, side foots it and it could be such an important goal.”
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THE AUSSIE
Cammy Devlin missed the derby with what McInnes described as a “wee strain”.
The 27-year-old, who has been capped on four occasions by the Socceroos, was superb in the first half of the season.
He scored in an earlier Edinburgh derby, and is a key player in the heart of midfield, even donning the captain’s armband on two occasions this campaign.
But Devlin has been more of an observer in recent times.
He spent eight games on the sidelines with an ankle injury before this latest setback.
Although, McInnes appeared confident that it was nothing major and Devlin will be a chance to take on Rangers.
If he can stay fit for the coming four games, the Sydneysider can fulfil several of his childhood dreams.
As well as a possible league title, Devlin could play his way into Tony Popovic’s World Cup squad.
He could also ensure that next season he gets the chance to play in Europe’s top competition.
“I think growing up as an Aussie from the other side of the world the Champions League is something you would wake up at four or five in the morning to watch on the telly,” Devlin said last month upon recovering from his ankle setback.
“So I think that’s a massive, massive carrot because that would be a dream come true for not just me, but for any player that is here I’m sure.
“In terms of right now my focus is on just getting back fit, playing for Hearts, seeing what we can do, and then I’m sure that stuff will come into play at the end of the season.
“The Champions League would be so special, so cool, and something we believe we can do. So fingers crossed.
“We’re working ever so hard to make it happen. There’s a lot of twists and turns left in this title race and the fact I can say we’re a part of it is cool in itself.”
Devlin’s words gain more meaning when Hearts fans reflect back to more than a decade ago.
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BOUNCE BACK FROM THE BRINK
It was not that long ago that Hearts were facing a battle to survive.
The club had accumulated £25 million in debt to companies previously owned by Vladimir Romanov, the Russian-Lithuanian businessman who was once the club’s majority shareholder.
At the final game of the 2013 season, the stadium announcer declared “this could be the last ever match that Hearts of Midlothian ever play”.
But the club was saved by its fans.
The Foundation of Hearts group raised more than a £1m to keep the club afloat.
They are now the biggest fan owned club in the United Kingdom.
Roughly 8,000 fans invest at least £10 a month into the club, and the Foundation of Hearts has 75.5 per cent of voting control.
Brighton owner Tony Bloom came on board last year, buying a 29 per cent stake in the club for £9.6m, but with no voting rights.
Bloom’s resume is impressive.
He took Brighton from the English third tier to challenging for a Champions League place this season – sitting sixth on the English Premier League table with four games to go.
While he also took Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise from the second division to the top tier title last season.
The three clubs rely heavily on the use of Bloom’s data modelling company to appoint managers, recruit players and determine tactics.
For Hearts, it means even if they achieve the ultimate next month, the club want fans to understand that some players will not be kept for a long time.
“We are trying to make sure our fans don’t get too attached to players,” Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay told The Telegraph.
“The big one at the moment is Claudio Braga. We would expect to sell Claudio in the summer. But we will only sell him if we get very, very good money for him.”
Braga has been a revelation for Hearts this season, scoring 14 league goals after moving to Edinburgh from Norwegian second-tier side Aalesunds FC for £400,000 during the summer transfer window.
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Hearts fans have made him one of their favourites.
“All we need is Claudio Braga” sung to the tune of Queen’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’ is one of their staple chants.
But the club hierarchy have made it clear it will likely not be sung for much longer.
“We believe that we will increase the value of many of them and sell them on,” McKinlay said.
“Fans should expect players to be sold. We have to improve the player trading model. Look at what Brighton have done, look at what Union have done. We certainly believes that’s the model.”
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WHAT A TITLE WOULD MEAN
A title would undeniably make Hearts the third biggest club in Scotland.
Celtic and Rangers are tied on an astonishing 55 titles apiece.
Hearts have the chance go stand-alone third with five titles – ahead of Aberdeen and Hibernian.
Hearts’ last league title was in 1960 and the may move to a position of being able to challenge more regularly.
Financial dominance has been a big part of the Celtic-Rangers duopoly.
Last season, Celtic generated the most revenue of any Scottish club with a total of £143.6m.
Rangers were second with £94.1m in revenue.
While Hearts were third, but their revenue tally was dwarfed by the Old Firm, at £24.4m.
With more time under Bloom’s ownership, Hearts believe that number can grow substantially and lead to more success on the pitch.
“There are a lot of people saying ‘this is our one and only chance’ – we don’t believe that at all,” McKinlay said.
“We believe we will get to a place within the next four or five years where we are competing consistently with them. And it’s largely due to the analytics.”
The players, of course, cannot help but throw their minds forward to the prospect of lifting the trophy at Celtic Park on the final day of the season.
Even if they are doing their best to stay in the moment.
“When you get this close, of course, you think about it,” captain Lawrence Shankland said.
“But it’s a lot of hard games coming up and [we’re] not getting too carried away.
“Right now we need to live in the here and now. We deserve to be there, and hopefully we can go and steal it.”
Perhaps the most telling aspects of Hearts’ position is that some supporters of rivals clubs are willing them over the line.
So sick of the Celtic-Rangers stranglehold are many Scottish fans that they are hoping a club other than their own can win the title.
Among them is tennis legend Sir Andy Murray.
“I’ll probably get hammered for this but I personally think it’s a good thing for Scottish football if Hearts were able to win,” he told Sky Sports.
“Obviously as a Hibs fan there’s a huge rivalry there but it’s been such a long time.
“People are asking me a lot about Scottish football and that never really happens.
“So there’s obviously a lot of interest in it.
“I think for Scottish football on the whole it would be a good thing but for the Hibs-Hearts rivalry, it’d be disappointing.”