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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.