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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly 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 wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.