First time in 40 years: German star set for title shock in England | OneFootball

A victory in the Scottish league against Celtic or the Rangers probably feels a bit like it does for German clubs when they’ve just beaten Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund.

This is exactly the feeling that Heart of Midlothian fans experienced twice. Their team won both against the Rangers (2:0) and Celtic (3:1). Goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow described just how ecstatic the atmosphere was, especially during the home win against Celtic, on 'transfermarkt.de': "It’s just a cauldron. And the goal celebration last Sunday during the home win against Celtic was, I think, the loudest I’ve ever heard."

But it’s not just the atmosphere that’s right: The new club of the former Bundesliga keeper is currently leading the Scottish Premiership table – with a nine-point lead over Celtic and even 14 over the Rangers.

"I believe that from this season on, we can compete for the title in every competition we participate in," said new investor Tony Bloom in the summer, after he bought around 29 percent of the club’s shares for the equivalent of about eleven million euros. His goal: to win the championship title within the next ten years.

The fact that it already looks possible in his very first season should please him all the more – after all, it would be the first time since 1985 that the Scottish champion isn’t called Celtic or Rangers.

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Even Schwolow himself hadn’t expected such a start. After eleven matchdays, he had only conceded nine goals and set a club record: in his first four matches, he kept a clean sheet – something no Hearts keeper had achieved before him. "I didn’t expect things to go so well, and it’s already been extraordinary up to this point," he said in an interview with 'transfermarkt.de'.

Before his move, he hardly knew what to expect. His agent raved about the conditions, the fans, and the stadium after the first contact – so Schwolow decided to see it all for himself. Some former teammates – like Moritz Jenz from his time at Schalke – had also spoken of the "intense atmosphere."

At Schalke, he was still the first-choice keeper two years ago, then he moved to Union Berlin, where he only made a few appearances. That’s why he was looking for a new challenge. And above all, a club where he could be number one again. The fact that this would take him abroad for the first time in his career was not something he had originally planned.

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But why are things going so well for him and Hearts now? For one, the training conditions are excellent, says Schwolow. For another, investor Bloom brought in Jamestown Analytics, a data-driven scouting and analysis tool that has already proven itself at clubs like Brighton or Union Saint-Gilloise.

For example, Deniz Undav was once discovered at third-division club SV Meppen before making the leap to England via Saint-Gilloise and later to VfB. Hearts also benefited: alongside Schwolow, striker Cláudio Braga joined from Norwegian second-division side Alesund for around 520,000 euros – and after eleven matchdays, he leads the league with nine scorer points, together with teammate Lawrence Shankland. No wonder the fans immediately dedicated a song to the new signing.

Right behind him is Alexandros Kyziridis, a free transfer signing for the left wing. In total, Hearts brought in eleven new players this summer, all from abroad – for just around three million euros. For comparison: the Rangers invested almost 30 million, Celtic over 15.

The season is still long, but in Edinburgh, the feeling is growing that this time, more is possible than just a respectable result. Schwolow expects that Celtic and the Rangers will "step up even more" in the winter to knock Hearts off the top of the table. But the goalkeeper is unfazed: "The fans are allowed to dream – that’s good and gives us extra motivation."

And who knows – maybe the celebrations in Edinburgh will one day be even louder than after the win against Celtic. Namely, when Heart of Midlothian actually wins the Scottish championship.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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