Hearts continue to lead the way in Scotland

The more things change, at least in some outposts of Scottish football, the more they remain the same—in others anyway.

Hearts continues to lead the Premiership by six points over Celtic and Rangers, securing victory Wednesday night even after going down to 10 men against St. Mirren at Tynecastle. The Edinburgh club has revolutionized how it operates, using analytics (thanks to minority owner Tony Bloom) for everything from player recruitment to team selection to in-match tactics.

Old-school observers (like us) can roll their eyes all they’d like. It’s working. With a budget roughly one-tenth of that of Glasgow’s big two, the Jambos have been top of the table since the first ball was kicked in anger in August.

Without an analytics infrastructure in place, Celtic and Rangers (though that may be changing at the Ibrox club) can only do what they have always done: spend more than their opponents. And while it’s worked in the past—or, for at least 40 years, anyway—there are no guarantees.

As of this writing, Rangers have already been busy, adding left-back Tuur Rommens and midfielder Tochi Chukwuani, a total investment of about £7.5 million. Manager Danny Röhl has suggested more are on the way.

Celtic ask for patience

Well, see if this sounds familiar. With a reported £75 million in the bank, the Parkhead club have so far… brought in right-back Julian Araujo on loan from Bournemouth until the end of the season.

That Araujo’s arrival was one of former gaffer Wilfried Nancy’s last acts in charge should probably go unmentioned. Though, to be fair, the Mexican international (by way of California) seems a decent player.

Now, with caretaker boss Martin O’Neill back for a second, er, third spell, Celtic are once again promising additions but asking for patience.

“Just give us a little bit of time, cut me a little bit of slack and we’ll be ok,” the Irishman said after the Hoops struggled to beat Falkirk Wednesday night. “The focus is to try and win some football matches, but the other aspect to it is to try to add to the squad if we can do. To add a bit of extra quality to help the players out here.”

That word “quality” should also ring some bells. The necessity for it was a constant refrain from O’Neill’s countryman Brendan Rodgers before he resigned as Celtic manager in October.

The more things change…