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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man 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 number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, 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 combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth 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.