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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many time are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, 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 Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views 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 excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.