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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of both team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," 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 try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given 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, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.