Sometimes players go a bit left field

“NOW that Tommy’s gone, maybe all the young players Tommy has coached over the years will think about what he’s said to them and take it on board. If they’re intelligent enough and think about the knowledge Tommy gave them, hopefully they will take something from it.”

Danny McGrain

“HE did the right things, he looked after his diet, he worked hard at his game as he just wanted to further himself all the time. The red hair wasn’t purely superficial as he had a wee sharp temper as well, which was excellent as I like people with spirit and Tommy had spirit in abundance. But he was a good example to youngsters because he was dedicated. He didn’t have to tell them a lot as they saw it in him and he was a well-disciplined boy off the park. He was straightforward and honest and upright with it and that was probably Tommy at his best. He treated people as he expected to be treated himself.”

Billy McNeill

So what if I had only just turned 12? I was young enough to read the papers, smart enough to recycle what they – and their TV counterparts – had to say. And that was enough to convince me that the imminent marriage of a precocious talent would work wonders for his maturity and development into a top-class professional.

I remember my father, who devoted less time to digesting the collected wisdom of the popular press, looking at me with an incredulity that bordered on astonishment, with a smidgeon of panic thrown in. Fortunately, these were the days when that sort of parenting was summarised with myriad variations on the question, “What nonsense are you talking now?”

“He’s 24 – bit of a hot-head but he could be a great player. I reckon, now that he’s getting married he’ll settle down and get into less trouble.”

And you know what? I was right. I never again saw that talc-white chest with the wee red nipples topped off with orange paint – because I never again saw him rip off the Celtic shirt in anger at some referee’s (or manager’s) decision.

Now I have to say right now that Tommy did me – and about a couple of million others – proud. But once upon a time some people doubted that he would turn all that skill, talent and potential on the left of midfield into the sort of outcome that would make us sing with joy while he played and look weeping into mirrors, wondering where such a great part of our lives went when he was, unbelievably, taken from us.

It has been said recently that Tommy Burns was the “buffer” between Aiden McGeady (22)and Gordon Strachan.

I never had any advice from Tommy – but if I had, I would have listened.





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