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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability 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 isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely 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 ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.