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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland 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' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.