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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people seemed when reports of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion 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 a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.