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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed 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 championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.