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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.