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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.