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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.