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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from 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 left until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.