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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told the media 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. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. 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 lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.