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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number 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 schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.