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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.