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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the last 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 almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.