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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability 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 is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in 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 Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.