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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation 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 a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change 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 given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can win.