Tommy Burns

Thomas Burns (16 December 1956 – 15 May 2008) was a Scottish professional football player and manager.

He is best known for his long association with Celtic, where he was a player, manager and coach.

After receiving offers to go to England to play professionally, he signed for Celtic in 1973, and was then farmed out to Maryhill Juniors in order to gain experience.

Usually a midfielder, Burns played for Celtic from 1975 to 1989 and won six Scottish league championships, five Scottish Cups, and the Scottish League Cup once.

Burns made his debut against Dundee United on 19 April 1975 under manager Jock Stein, and by the end of the 1976–77 (which ended with Celtic as champions) had become a regular in the team.

He was also a Scotland international, winning eight caps between 1981 and 1988.

He finished playing with Kilmarnock, where he also began his managerial career.

His best personal output was in 1983–84 with 13 goals from 55 appearances in all competitions, although Celtic finished as runners-up to Aberdeen in both the League and the Scottish Cup, and lost the League Cup final to Rangers.

Burns was a vital part of the side managed by Billy McNeill which won the league and cup double in 1987–88, the club's centenary season, participating in 37 matches in the campaign.

In total, he made 353 league appearances for Celtic over 15 years and scored 52 goals, won six Scottish League titles and four Scottish Cups.

In December 1989, just prior to his 33rd birthday, he received a testimonial match against Ajax in which he threw his boots to the crowd at Celtic Park.

The club would later officially describe him as "a true Celtic legend" while the player himself stated that he was merely "a supporter who got lucky".

Immediately following his testimonial, Burns moved to third-tier Kilmarnock for a fee of £50,000, and in his first season in East Ayrshire helped the club achieve promotion.

In 1990–91 'Killie' consolidated their status in the division with Burns playing a pivotal role (37 appearances, all as a starter, with 8 goals).

Burns became player-manager of Kilmarnock in April 1992, replacing Jim Fleeting for the final few games of the season.

In 1992–93, his first full campaign in charge, the Rugby Park club won promotion to the Scottish Premier Division after a ten-year absence, with Burns also playing in 39 league fixtures during the season.

He then featured in a dozen top-flight matches to help Kilmarnock avoid relegation, with his penultimate career appearance at the age of 37 being a 1–0 home win over Rangers which was also the last match prior to the stadium's redevelopment.

He returned to Celtic as manager in 1994, and won the Scottish Cup in 1995 – the first trophy the club had won in six years.

Burns moved to become manager of Celtic (replacing Lou Macari) at the start of the 1994–95 season in acrimonious circumstances, as he was still under contract to Kilmarnock as both player and manager.

Kilmarnock refused to release him from his contract and the Scottish Football Association subsequently fined Celtic £100,000 for 'tapping', or speaking to Burns without obtaining his current club's permission.

Kilmarnock were also permitted to retain his playing registration, effectively ending his professional career as a player.

At Celtic, his team grew a reputation for playing attractive and attacking football and they won the Scottish Cup in 1995; but Celtic proved unable to break the domination of Old Firm rivals Rangers.

Burns signed players like Pierre van Hooijdonk, Paolo Di Canio and Jorge Cadete, and while the Celtic team lost just one game in the league during the 1995–96 season, they were unable to beat the Rangers team managed by Walter Smith.

Burns commented that "Andy Goram [the Rangers goalkeeper] broke my heart" would be on his tombstone.

After being sacked by Celtic in 1997 he managed Reading from 1998 to 1999.

After losing a Scottish Cup semi-final to Falkirk in 1997, Burns was sacked from Celtic by chairman Fergus McCann and went on to work under former Celtic colleague Kenny Dalglish at Newcastle United as a coach.

On 25 March 1998, Burns was appointed manager of Reading, who were struggling in Division One in what was their final season at Elm Park before the relocation to Madejski Stadium and would eventually finish in last place.

He had been approached about the Reading manager's job the previous summer, but rejected it in favour of a coaching role under Dalglish.

Burns remained in this position until 16 September 1999, when he was dismissed following a poor sequence of results, after Reading's failure to win promotion from Division Two the previous year.

He left an impression on some of the club's personnel, including future club captain Graeme Murty and youth coach Brendan Rodgers who later also managed Celtic.

Burns returned to Celtic in 2000, and held positions including assistant manager, head of youth development and first team coach.

In 2000, Burns returned to Celtic as assistant manager during Kenny Dalglish's short-lived tenure as manager.

That summer, Martin O'Neill took over as the club's manager and brought in his own coaching staff, but retained Burns and placed him in charge of youth development.

He was also assistant manager of Scotland from 2002 to 2007.

Upon the arrival of Gordon Strachan as manager in 2005, Burns was appointed first team coach, a role he combined with his youth development post.

Burns died of melanoma on 15 May 2008, aged 51.

Burns was born in the Calton area of Glasgow, where he was brought up with his two sisters.

He was educated at St Mary's Roman Catholic School and at St Mary's Secondary School.

Burns grew up supporting Celtic and began playing football with St.Mary's Boys Guild.

He went on to play for Eastercraigs Boys Club and then Celtic Boys Club.