RANGERS hero Ally McCoist is backing Hearts to continue their stunning start to the season and win the Scottish Premiership title.
Derek McInnes‘ side underlined their credentials with a sensational 3-1 win over Celtic at Tynecastle to send them EIGHT points clear at the summit.
They would become the first team outside the Old Firm to clinch the top flight title since Aberdeen in 1985.
Since then there have been a few false dawns, with Hearts threatening to upset the duopoly under George Burley in 2005.
In 2015, Aberdeen gave Ronny Deila‘s Celtic a scare as the title race had gone down to March before Celtic eventually pulled away.
Last year, Jimmy Thelin’s Dons made a storming start winning 10 of 11 games before crumbling to finish fifth.
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Yet McCoist says this title challenge feels different, with stability at the club and investment from Tony Bloom, who has enjoyed success elsewhere with Brighton and Belgian side Union Saint Gilloise.
Asked on talkSPORT, if Hearts can go the distance, he said: “Yes….” Before laughing and saying. “what have I done I’ve got to go back up the road!”
He added: “I do smell something different this year. They’ve got two men in charge who know their way about.
“Tony Bloom knows his where abouts for sure and no one knows Scottish football better than Derek, so supporters should be getting carried away and being allowed to dream because that was a performance yesterday that did nothing other than say I think they might be here to stay.”
McCoist believes the demise in the quality of Rangers and Celtic is “staggering” and think that’s not necessarily a good thing for Scottish football even if Hearts putting up a title challenge is.
He said: “It would have to be a good thing for Scottish football but you need to balance it out.
“Would it be a good thing for Scottish football? Yes. What’s it going to take to happen?
“They are going to have to continue on the remarkable run they are on, they’ll probably have to strengthen in the January window and, most importantly, they are going to have to enjoy the continued demise of Rangers and Celtic, which isn’t good for Scottish football.
“The best thing to happen for Scottish football is for Hearts to win a brilliant league with Rangers and Celtic finishing second and third and nothing between them all the way.
“You have to bring in to the conversation just how poor Celtic and Rangers are, but at the same time you need to balance it with how refreshing it is to see Derek’s team doing what they are doing.
“They deserved that yesterday. I sat and watched that game and they were excellent from start to finish.
“Derek will be in that dressing room saying right everyone calm down.
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“At this stage, you can’t get carried away because history would tell you that it ain’t going to happen.
“But to balance that I think Hearts have more about them than Aberdeen did plus the fact Rangers and particularly Celtic are poorer than they were last season with Hearts starting well.”
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