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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.