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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.