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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked 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 football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can win.