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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds 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 enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.