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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems 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 mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.