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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality 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.