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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing 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 celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.

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

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his team's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.