17 shock Euro title winners to give Hearts hope of stunning Celtic and winning the Scottish Premiership
Derek McInnes' side have the chance to move eight points clear of the champions this weekend by beating them at Tynecastle
Is this the perfect storm the Scottish Premiership has been waiting for?
Tony Bloom wanted a Hearts title challenge to happen within ten years.
He might end up getting a proper one after just ten weeks.
Rangers are in so much turmoil and that far off the pace they are barely in the conversation.
Celtic look a shadow of their former selves, the fans are at war with the board and Brendan Rodgers is comparing his squad to a Honda Civic.
The Jambos having the chance to go eight points clear at the top would be a big story under normal circumstances.
Hotline Live 21/10/25 | Danny Rohl’s first Rangers press conference
That the traditional big two are also struggling at the same time means many reckon this is the best chance anyone could have of ending the 40-year wait for a top flight title winner from outside of Glasgow.
Derek McInnes is of course trying to play it cool, telling everyone to ask him again about title challenges in January.
He is however, revelling in the capital club's role as disruptors so far: "At the minute, the only thing that's on is us being off to a strong start and can we maintain it. There's so many people out there who are desperate for us to fail.
"Guys like yourself, the media and a lot of other people from outwith would love to see a challenger try and break that monopoly and I get that, but equally every club we play against now are the club that is desperate to stop us.
"Rangers and Celtic and everybody else, they'll start to get a wee bit annoyed with us if we keep winning games and I do think we're annoying people at the minute and hopefully we can keep doing that. I always believe that there's a chance that a club outwith Rangers and Celtic can have that special season.
"Now, whether it's Hearts, whether it's other clubs that can achieve that, you've always got to try and work towards that."
Other title winning gatecrashers from across Europe no doubt said the same kind of thing. Record Sport takes a look at the unlikely champions from across the continent.
Union Saint-Gilloise
Tony Bloom's Belgian boys are being held up as the model for Hearts to follow. In the second tier when he got involved in 2018, they were promoted to the top flight three years later and finished top at the end of the regular season, but ultimately lost out to Club Brugge in the playoffs. Last season, however, saw them clinch a first top flight crown for 90 years. Also benefiting from the Jamestown Analytics expertise, USG's rise is what's really fuelling the belief in Bloom's vision for Hearts.
1 of 15Mjallby AIF
If it's an underdog story you want, go to Sweden. Mjallby AIF clinched their first ever Allsvenskan title on Monday night, having only reached the top flight for the first time in 1980. With a strong reputation for developing players and clever scouting, the team with the 6,750 capacity stadium were confirmed as champions with three matches still to play after a win over giants IFK Gothenburg. All done with a squad made up mostly of players from the local village of Hallevik and its 800 inhabitants.
2 of 15Deportivo La Coruna
While La Liga mostly changes hands between Barcelona and Real Madrid, Atletico have snatched it away a couple of times in the last 15 years. But Deportivo's triumph back in 2000 was truly an upset. Less than a decade after winning promotion from Segunda B, the likes Juan Valeron and Roy Makaay fired them to top spot at the turn of the Millennium.
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