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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of 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."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.