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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can win.