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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score 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 champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions 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 good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.