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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' 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 ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, 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 their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win 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 tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. 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 Celtic or Rangers can win.