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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline 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 – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively underestimated his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.