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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled 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 combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.