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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss 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 capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.