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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S 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 situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team'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 might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, 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." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.