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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed 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 combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"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 league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can win.