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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting 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.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

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 exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be 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'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 excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can claim.