Celtic View editor Pail Cuddihy has written an account of the life and times of Tommy Burns titled: Tommy Burns: A Supporter Who Got Lucky.
The book will be serialised in The Sun this week with the foreword from Aiden McGeady printed below
“EVERY day, when we come in to training at Lennoxtown, the first things you see are pictures of Tommy Burns on the walls outside the dressing room.
It’s nice to be reminded of him all the time although there’s no chance any of us will ever forget him.
The pictures are of him smiling, which are really appropriate because he was a happy guy in general.
SCHOOL
When I was about 15, Celtic wanted me to sign for them and Tommy came out to my house with Martin O’Neill who was manager at the time, and it was strange to be sitting in my living room, thinking I’ve got school the next day and the Celtic manager was sitting there asking me to sign for the club.
That meant a lot, as did the fact Tommy was there and he obviously thought so much of me that he wanted to bring the manager out to meet me.
Tommy was always there as I progressed through the ranks at Celtic, and he was always encouraging me, offering advice, wanting me to work hard and improve my game, and that was the way he was in general, not just with me, but with everyone else.
MAGNET
He seemed to be a magnet for all the younger players. Because he was in charge of the Youth Development set-up, he’d see all these young boys coming through and being so close the first team without really becoming a regular in the side.
And he just wanted everybody to give it their best shot. He knew the players had something and he just wanted to add to it and, to be fair, he was the man to bring out the best in everybody.
Then, when he became first-team coach in 2005, that was great for all of us who had come through the Academy at Celtic because we knew him and he knew us, knew what we were capable of and also what we still needed to do to become regular first-team players.
The two of us became sort of best friends – he was obviously still the coach and I had respect for that – but he’d always give me a bit of advice as we were going back into the dressing room after the warm-up.
He’d say: “This is a big game for us today. You know you can make the difference. I want you to get the ball and I want you to go at someone, just go at the full back.”
CONFIDENCE
It was just to give you a little confidence booster, though sometimes before games he would say something to spur you on a bit, maybe something not so pleasant. I remember at the start of the 2006/07 season, we were playing Kilmarnock at home in the opening day of the season and the day before the game they’d read the team out.
We were doing set-pieces and Tommy was standing with me and he asked me what age I was now – I was 19. And he said: “You should be going and running this league – you on your own.
You should go out tomorrow and show everybody what a good player you are. You should go out and score two or three goals, or set up two or three” – something like that.
He said I was at the age where I really should be running games and he wanted to see that tomorrow. He said: “You’ve done all this coming on and playing well and playing the odd game here and there but you need to have consistency.”
And to be fair, I went out and played quite well. It was just something that stuck in my head, although I remember at the time thinking I’d been doing alright recently, but then you actually analyse it and you realise he’s probably right.
PUSHING
I was at that age where I should be pushing on and being a regular in the first team every single week. So it was just something along those lines that he was trying to get into my head.
It was never more evident than in the season when he died. That season he worked closely with me. He used to look at every aspect of my game and go through it with me.
After every game he’d point out things I did well or things I could have done better, and then we’d work at them on the training ground. I’d be working with him every single day, practising crosses, finishing, working on speed.
And he’d always be the one who’d say that if these little things make one or two per cent difference to you, you’re as well doing them.
PHILOSOPHY
That was his philosophy and I still try and benefit from everything he taught me.
It was also during that season that he got really ill. I knew things weren’t right for a while but I just always thought he would pull through. When you hear of cancer returning for a second or third time then it’s never good but I never really believed he would actually die.
Tommy was always a fun-loving guy and a funny guy – all the players have a million and one stories about him – and he didn’t even mind too much when the likes of me or Jim O’Brien would do impressions of him and the one-liners he’d shout at us during training.
But he was also a great coach and someone who helped many of us in our careers.
LEGACY
He’s the one who brought us through and worked closely with us, and I think it’s a good legacy that there are players in the Celtic first team now who owe it all to Tommy. Even the younger boys pushing to come through.
He was an incredible individual and had an impact on everyone he met because he had this infectious personality. So many will associate Tommy with Celtic, but he had a lot of friends from the other side of the city.
He always wanted us to beat Rangers – he was passionate about that – but he had a lot of close friends there as well.
When the Rangers team and supporters travelled back from the UEFA Cup Final, a lot of the buses stopped at Celtic Park to pay their respects to To
mmy. He really was a one-off and his funeral united the city.
mmy. He really was a one-off and his funeral united the city.
I remember being on the bus on the way to Linn Cemetery and thousands were lining the streets. Naturally, the majority were Celtic supporters but there were fans of every team, and people from every walk of life.
So many people knew Tommy, so many loved him. I don’t know if anyone else could unite the city like he did.
