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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.