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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.