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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare 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 lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.