TOMMY BURNS
16 December 1956 - 15 May 2008
R.I.P

Tommy Burns died on Thursday 15 May 2008 after a long battle with cancer. Tommy was born in the same area of Glasgow where Celtic Football Club was founded - the Calton in the east end of Glasgow - and was baptised in the same church where the meeting to found Celtic took place - St Mary's.

Only 12,000 fans were at the Celtic Park match against Dundee when Tommy was given his Celtic debut by Jock Stein in the 1974/75 season, coming on for Paul Wilson. The next season (the first season of the Scottish Premier League) he made his starting debut before 29,000 against Aberdeen in a 1-1 draw. The Celtic team that day was - Latchford, McGrain, Edvaldsson, Aitken, Callaghan, Glavin, Dalglish, BURNS, Doyle (Ritchie), Deans, Lennox (Wilson). He scored his first goal for Celtic against Motherwell in a 2-2 draw at Fir Park and made his European debut in a UEFA Cup match against Polish club Wisla Krakow in 1976/77, making 32 appearances that Championship winning season. Tommy Burns went on to become a Celtic legend, making over 350 appearances for Celtic Footbal Club between 1974 and 1989, winning 6 league championships and 4 Scottish Cups, including a league and cup double in Celtic's centenary season of 1987/88. He made his last appearance for Celtic in a friendly match against Ajax of Amsterdam in 1989.

Tommy then played and managed for Kilmarnock FC for several years before returning to Paradise as Celtic manager from 1994 to 1997. After managing Celtic, he was coach to Kenny Dalglish at Newcastle United, manager at Reading for a short time and assistant to Scotland manager Berti Voights. In 2002 he was brought back to Celtic by Martin O'Neill to coach the Celtic youth teams and retained as first team coach when Gordon Strachan took over in 2005.

Now in Heavens eleven - Tommy twists, Tommy turns, Tommy Burns.