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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

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 Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort 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. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change 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 strong position, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used 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 actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.