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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.