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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While 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 comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.