“Men who are desperate for a solution are easy to persuade because they wish desperately to be persuaded.”

(JK Galbraith, ‘The Age of Uncertainty’)

“ABSOLUTELY magic. Just won us the league. So it has. Superb!”

Such was the expert analysis on Sky Sports News as Tottenham’s Robbie Keane joined Celtic on loan for the remainder of the 2009/2010 season. There was a time, before the impromptu introduction of sex toys, where the biannual ‘Deadline Day’ coverage was appointment viewing on Sky.

Reporters would camp out in the close vicinity of football stadiums and training grounds where they would consume the minutiae of ongoing deals nearly as much as they did coffee. Inevitably, by lunchtime, a crowd would gather. Children, whom for the most part should either have been in school or their bed, were surrounded by the ghosts of their Christmas future as the anticipation of season-defining signings would build before fizzling out in a depressing anti-climax.

Not so at Parkhead. It’s easy - not to mention fun - to mock the hundreds that were huddled in a car park late into the February night to pay homage to the new messiah, the man who was going to claw back a ten-point deficit against a Rangers side that had lost only one league game all season. However many clubs Keane had turned up at, pleading his life-long love, he was still a dangerous player even though he was coming to the end of his career.

It was a good coup - he would finish the season as Celtic’s top scorer - but there was a lack of realism in such pronouncements when one considers the battered and beleaguered state of Tony Mowbray’s side as a whole. Rangers fans aren’t exempt from this nonsense either of course, especially since 2012. It is universal. Football fans across the world are all guilty of the same thing. We all wish desperately to be persuaded.

Keane’s debut came the following night at Kilmarnock. Celtic lost 1-0. He did come up with a few goals in the next four games but if he really was going to alter the direction of the league title, then it would have to be at Ibrox on the final day of February. A Rangers win would give Walter Smith a ten-point gap with a game to spare and in effect, the league would be all but over. The scene was set for a hero after all.

READ MORE: Rangers' First Blood: Five famous season-opening victories over Celtic - Martyn Ramsay

The build-up to kick-off had many familiar ingredients. The Celtic high command indulged in what had become by then a standard piece of Machiavellian chicanery by letting it be known, in the week before the game, they had complained to the SFA about the standard of refereeing in previous Old Firm encounters. This would lead ultimately to the prospect of a referee strike later in the year but seemed designed to put pressure on Dougie McDonald’s handling of this match.

The Rangers goalkeeper, Allan McGregor, had provided the tabloids with more salacious interest when he was injured in an incident in Glasgow the previous weekend although he would be passed fit to take his place between the posts. It would be the day that Rangers paid their respects to one of McGregor’s predecessors, Gerry Neef the reserve goalkeeper in the 1972 European Cup Winner’s Cup squad.

“You’re fucking getting it!” The tone of the match and the wider narrative was set in the first three minutes with two Kevin Thomson tackles on Keane in quick succession.

Speaking to Heart and Hand in 2017, Thomson denies singling out the Irish international specifically. “I never earmarked Robbie Keane.

“Anyone was getting it. It just so happened to be him. He pulled my top and pulled me towards him, called me a wee prick or something and as I ran back I told him he’s fucking getting it again.”

Careful design or happy happenstance, it was the perfect opening act in the latest episode of this saga of strife.

Keane was still busy in that first half though. He sailed a free-kick over the bar from just outside the box and then was foiled by the other main character in that week’s drama, McGregor, who saved brilliantly from his right-foot volley. Both sides had their chances in an open 45 minutes. Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller should have done better for Rangers and Marc-Antoine Fortune certainly should have for Celtic right before the interval.

Thomson did leave a game-changing mark on a player but it was one of his own. An accidental collision with Lee McCulloch’s heel necessitated a 27th-minute substitution and Maurice Edu had the ball in the net within a minute on the field but it was ruled out for a handball from Miller on the way to his controlled right foot shot.

If the media leak was engineered to put pressure on Dougie McDonald, the success of the plan was negligible, to say the least. Madjid Bougherra was booked for a lunge on Keane after 12 minutes and there could have been a case made more than once that afternoon for a second yellow card. To no avail however and the image of Bougherra winking to a teammate quickly developed into a favourite GIF on fan message boards everywhere.

McDonald did show a red card midway through the second half and it was for the new Celtic captain. Scott Brown and Kyle Lafferty got themselves into the inevitable midfield tussle, Brown’s head landed in Lafferty’s chest and the Ulsterman reacted as he was often prone to do, given half a chance. It put Celtic very much on the back foot and yet again gave them an out in the aftermath should the result go against them.

Walter Smith was quick to shut that down post-match. “The Old Firm games are always awkward, everybody comes under scrutiny.

“You always argue with the refereeing decisions, it doesn't matter what anybody says. It would be nice if they were going to criticise the referee then they come out of the closet and do it, rather than do it in an anonymous manner. The referee's under enough pressure as it is. I thought the referee handled the game very well.”

As the second half developed, Rangers grew in strength. Boyd was dispossessed by Thomas Rogne in the box just as he was about to pull the trigger and Steven Davis tested Arthur Boruc with a devilishly low drive from the edge of the box.

A draw would probably have been enough to see off the Celtic title challenge but as time ticked away and pressure wasn’t converted into a goal, it would have been a strangely deflating way to end such a game. One final corner in the 93rd minute was enough to break the resistance. It was swung in from Thomson on the left half side and found Bougherra who controlled well and tested Boruc with a right-foot drive.

The Polish goalkeeper should have done better, as should Boyd when it was spilled into his path. Edu didn’t make any mistake from less than a yard out and sent Ibrox wild. “I think we’ve just seen the goal that has won a championship,” said a deflated Davie Provan on co-commentary.

READ MORE: Aberdeen 2 Rangers 3: The night Ally McCoist and Mark Hateley slayed the Dons - Martyn Ramsay

Every fan, regardless of age, enjoys a last-gasp winner against Celtic but for a generation of Rangers fans - those who missed nine-in-a-row and were too young to appreciate the successes of the early 2000s - this was a period to properly savour.

David Marshall was of that era and has fond memories of this moment in particular. “Bedlam, utter bedlam. The reaction of Ibrox that day will live with me for the rest of my life.

“The whole stadium was a sea of limbs and bodies jumping through the air as Walter lead the way running down the touchline like it was 1997 again. For my own part, I had to stop jumping about to prevent an asthma attack! However, as I paused for breath, I just took everything in around me and watched as friend and stranger alike embraced each other in a joy that is hard to describe if you haven’t experienced it before.

“I have experienced ‘better’ and bigger moments than the ‘Edu Game’ following Rangers. However, for that moment of sheer ecstasy inside Ibrox and losing all your inhabitations, there are not many that can beat it.”

This was something of a surprise choice to be included at number 45 in The 50 Greatest Rangers Games poll of 2019. It was a pretty scrappy game where Rangers toiled to overcome a poor Celtic team at home however, there are perhaps two reasons to explain its lasting popularity with a younger generation.

Firstly, it was the first time where they saw a Rangers side win a title in comfort, this match all but confirming that before March. Secondly, it had a ‘moment’. The last-minute winner was aesthetically ugly but beautiful in its emotional impact. Moments matter. Whenever we watch them back, we are instantly re-connected with the exact same emotions that we had the first time.

It will be forever known as the ‘Edu Game’ even though it may have been billed beforehand as potentially belonging to someone else. In his play Life of Galileo, Bertolt Brecht describes a scene where the great man’s pupil Andrea is so disconsolate with his teacher’s famous recantation that he says “unhappy is the land that breeds no hero”.

“No Andrea,” Galileo replies “Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.”

It is a beautiful truth when applied to the broad sweep of global political history and there’s a lesson for the football fan too, especially when we pin longer-term aspirations upon a new saviour. However, sport will always produce those fleeting moments that do indeed require a hero. Even when it’s not the one some expected it to be.

Martyn's brilliant book 'The 50 Greatest Rangers Games' can be purchased here.