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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

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 fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day 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 desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating 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 bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.