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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.