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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. 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 deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function 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 Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed 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. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.