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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.