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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been in the least 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 fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures 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 time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.