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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element 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. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence 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 complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, 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 matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.