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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.