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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover 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 combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.