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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.