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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his deal expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, 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 glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.