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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.