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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of 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 celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.