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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect 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 combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.