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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners 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 can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled 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 modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.