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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While 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 circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, 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 their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.