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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views 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 definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed 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 actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.