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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.