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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.