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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.