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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.