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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine league games this term 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 remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure 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 standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole 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 discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.