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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.