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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's chances of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.