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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team'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 statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, 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 accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.