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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating 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 Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.