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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip 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 players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.