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JAMBOS BLAZING

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both squad this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although 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 situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted 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, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue 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 greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.