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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate 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 money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.