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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent 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. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had massively underestimated his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.