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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic 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 circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his schedule to see how many time are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.