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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when reports of the result and its impact for the top of the table circulated. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of 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 renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.