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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.