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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled 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 total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can win.