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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this term 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 time are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start 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 start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.