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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left 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 my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, 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. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.