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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.