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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the last four decades, 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 joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.