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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.