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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer 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 questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.