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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost 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 days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite 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 introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.