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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.