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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed 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 modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.