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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.