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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover 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 questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men 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. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.