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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," 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 try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.