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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.