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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are left until his deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent 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 combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.