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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, 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 Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.