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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards 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 the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged 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 added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.