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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the table circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked 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 something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.