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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents 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 modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can win.