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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership 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 convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can win.