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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke 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 appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion 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. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.