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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left 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 informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.