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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically 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 war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth 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 modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.