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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants 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 circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

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 success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.