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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.