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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.