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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"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 appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start 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 on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems 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 modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.