I was involved in Rangers Helicopter Sunday and here's why Scottish football NEEDS that to happen again

Chris Burke was among the stunned onlookers as the blades of glory turned in Rangers’ favour on Helicopter Sunday.

While the former Ibrox winger and his team-mates celebrated their soaring title victory at Easter Road, it proved to be the bumpiest of landings for Celtic as they crashed and burned at Fir Park. Now almost two decades on from the most sensational ending Scottish football has ever seen, Burke reckons we should all be strapping ourselves in for another hell of a ride as this year’s Premiership race hovers near the finish line.

Burke was an unused sub that famous day back on May 22, 2005 as Alex McLeish’s Gers travelled east to Leith. The Ibrox men kicked off with only the faintest of hopes of catching Martin O’Neill’s side yet 90 minutes later it was the Light Blues signalling the chopper down in the capital after Scott McDonald’s deadly double sank Celtic, handing the SPL crown to their bitter rivals by a single point.

Philippe Clement’s modern-day Rangers will have to pull off a manoeuvre every bit as remarkable if they are to set up a last-day decider of their own this season. A first away win at Parkhead in three-and-a-half years this weekend is needed for starters. But when it comes to the Old Firm, Burke insists no-one should be surprised.

He said: “I was involved in Helicopter Sunday - and we might be looking at that again with the tensions surrounding the teams, with the media and the fans. It’s great for the Scottish game. If we could ever see that again it would be great for the country.

“It creates memories. If there was ever a highlight for me it would be that day because it came down to that final game. Ultimately, it will probably come down to the ones who have the character to handle those kind of situations. It’s difficult.

“Everyone at Celtic and Rangers have got ability, they can all turn a game at any moment. But I think the character, the personality, the charisma are important.

“The ones who can handle that and not look so much at the outside, who can just look at themselves and what they can do as a team to influence things, will be the ones who lift the trophy. We had huge characters. I learned from Barry Ferguson, the De Boers, Shota Arveladze, Dado Prso and Fernando Ricksen during my time at Rangers.

“Every single one of them could change a game, but what they were really, really good at was their determination to win a game of football, their character, their personality, their willingness to turn up when they need to turn up. It comes own to that when you play for Celtic and Rangers.”

When it comes to final day drama, few other Scottish seasons come to that 2005 epic. But Burke admits it was hardly a blockbuster clash against a Hibs side who knew they could lose and still qualify for Europe on goal difference, so long as they kept the score down.

With the hosts content to sit back after falling behind to Nacho Novo’s opener, it was left to McDonald to steal the scene 50 miles west at Fir Park. “I was on the bench that day,” recalled Burke. “All I remember was the game ended up a little bit slow. Hibs didn’t want to lose any more goals so the game became a bit strange.

“I can remember both managers looking a bit edgy on the sidelines. They both wanted their team to keep the ball. There was a period where the centre-backs just passed the ball to each other. It was a strange game. But the celebrations will live with me forever.

“Even though I wasn’t on the pitch, I was still on the bench. You get to learn from the ones on the pitch and how they cope with the situation and how they celebrate. You can see the relief from them and how much it means when they actually get over the line.

“It’s so much hard work to win a league. Winning a cup, you can get the luck of the draw. But winning a league is complete and utter effort day in, day out.

“When you need to win, you need to win. If the other team wins you need to realise that you need to win. It’s not just physically draining, it’s emotionally draining too. When the whistle goes and the release comes you understand why footballers react why they react.”

Burke spent eight years in the Rangers first team but that proved to be his only league winner’s medal. And the Killie youth coach, who also lifted the League Cup with Walter Smith’s side in 2008, admitted: “I would have loved to have won more trophies, to have played in more cup finals. At that time when I was playing for Rangers, Celtic were probably the driving force.

“My highlights would probably be playing in the last 16 of the Champions League and those type of games, that was huge for me and my learning. I won the League Cup and the Premiership at Rangers, they were fantastic achievements. I’ve been fortunate to have some memories I can look back on with fondness and smile.”

So who is going to end up looking the happier of the two rivals this year? “At this moment in time Celtic are favourites, but you just never know,” grinned Burke. “As much as Celtic are at home, Rangers have players who can put one in the top corner and put them 1-0 up.

"You can’t look at Celtic and Rangers and say, ‘They’ve got so many points more’. An Old Firm game is an Old Firm game, every one is different. I thought the last one was excellent, an entertaining game of football. It was a game of two halves.

“Clement will have looked at that and said, ‘OK, how do we start the game better?’ As much as Celtic are in the driving seat, you just couldn’t say they are definitely going to win it.”