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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, 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 Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.