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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. 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 thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up 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 desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.