Hearts on Fire – A new Champion in Scotland?

Welcome to a special edition of the Premier League Offside – this time slightly adapted as the Premiership Offside, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the Scottish Premiership, where a sensation is brewing. 

To be honest, since Celtic FC and Celtic FC and Glasgow Rangers were eliminated from the Champions League in August 2025, following embarrassing performances against Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan and Club Brugge, nothing has been the same in the Scottish Premiership.

I watched both Glasgow giants in the Europa League group stage on TV: Sturm Graz vs Rangers (2:1), Red Star Belgrade vs Celtic (1:1). Just like in October 2000 in the Champions League, the team from Graz were again able to celebrate against the Scots. 

Even though the opponents from Austria and Serbia didn’t exactly play stellar football, the performances fell short of what the success-hungry fans in Glasgow expect. They were matches that surely gave even the most carefree fans of the “Bhoys” (Celtic) and the “Gers” (as Rangers are also known in Scotland) pause for thought. 

Where do Celtic and Glasgow Rangers stand in the table?

The Scottish Premiership table after seven matchdays paints a sobering picture for the Old Firm clubs: Celtic Glasgow are in second place, two points behind surprise league leaders Heart of Midlothian.

Glasgow Rangers FC, currently only in eighth place, parted ways with their unpopular English coach Russell Martin after the 2:1 defeat in Graz.

Whether former manager and folk hero Steven Gerrard (“Oh Captain, my Captain!”) will return to Ibrox will likely be decided during the international break. Though also English, Gerrard famously broke Celtic’s title streak in 2021.

That streak could now be broken by a club from Edinburgh — often underestimated both domestically and internationally: Heart of Midlothian. Scotland’s capital also fields two top teams in the Premiership — the “Hearts” and “Hibs” of Hibernian Edinburgh. 

Football trips Heart of Midlothian: A German goalkeeper flying high at Tynecastle Park

The team from Tynecastle Park received a financial boost before the season. Mathematician Tony Bloom, also an investor in Brighton & Hove Albion in the English Premier League, provided eleven million euros for the Hearts.

For Brazilian player Ageu (who joined from Santa Clara, La Liga Portugal) — still goalless in the Premiership — only two million euros were spent.

The top scorer is someone Scottish football legend Murdo MacLeod described to me before EURO 2024 as “our most dangerous striker”: Lawrence Shankland. He probably would’ve left the Hearts on a free transfer in the summer had new coach Derek McInnes not arrived in Edinburgh.

The two had previously worked together at Aberdeen FC. Shankland – 75 goals in 147 competitive matches – stayed and currently leads the team’s scoring chart with four goals in seven league games.

In the league, only Croatian Ivan Dolcek from Dundee United (five goals) has scored more than Shankland, who is fast becoming the face of Heart of Midlothian’s meteoric rise.
German goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow joined from Union Berlin on a free transfer. He has kept clean sheets in three appearances totaling over 270 minutes, including the recent “Little Old Firm” – the Edinburgh derby against Hibernian (1:0).

Last but not least, the clever McInnes also signed centre-back Stuart Findlay from Kilmarnock FC, who has already scored four goals despite being a defender. 

Of course, football trips to Scotland are defined by the rivalry between the Old Firm clubs Celtic and Rangers, and no other match will ever overshadow the Old Firm for the “Bravehearts”. But the Scottish Premiership is also the eternal championship battle between Celtic and Rangers.

Will an Old Firm club fail to win the title for the first time in 40 years?

Since 1985, Scotland has waited 40 years for a champion that isn’t Celtic FC or Glasgow Rangers.

The last club to break the Glasgow dominance was Aberdeen FC. The manager at the time? A certain Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson – though not yet knighted – who made himself immortal with eight major titles at the “Dons”, winning the 1984/85 Premiership seven points ahead of Celtic. 

Could Heart of Midlothian now be the club to make history? A bold claim after only seven matches, of course.

Experts remain skeptical. “Things are going well, but will Celtic now panic in the title race? Let’s wait and see,” wrote Scotland insider Phil Gordon on October 2, 2025, in the Kicker Sports Magazine, “probably not, because the season is long and over time the favorite should prevail. Still, this snapshot certainly adds excitement.”