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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although a lot 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 their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year 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 minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's chances of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.