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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed 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 distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured 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 mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.