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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both team this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine league games this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager 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 might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.