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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate 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 money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover 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 total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.