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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn 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 defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can win.