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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership 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 data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.