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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics 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 Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.