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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to discover 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 appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.