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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus 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 resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.