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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances 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 their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

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

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.