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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – 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 complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.