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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. 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 prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money 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 the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.