Every picture tells a story

This was part of a long-running series. Here MATHEW LINDSAY talked to Celtic legend Tommy Burns about his glittering career in the Hoops and his highlights with Scotland

1 On my way

I ENJOYED the best possible introduction to football with St Mary's Boys' Guild under a man called John Rice. He was an incredible character, the Godfather of Calton, where I lived back then.

He was a great influence on me in my early years. It was a tough place to grow up, but he managed to set me in the right direction and I was forever grateful to him for that.

Scouts for major football clubs never watched boys' guild football, so I left and joined Eastercraigs when I was 14 in 1971.

I spent six months there, and then I was invited onto the Celtic ground staff when I left school. Willie Fernie, the former Celtic player, who, like me, went on to manage Kilmarnock, coached the boys' team. He was a great man and helped me an enormous amount. One of the first things he told me was to get a haircut.

The next day I came in as bald as a coot. Willie took me to another level in my football education, and that first year was possibly the most important in my career.

Being a Celtic fan undoubtedly played a huge part in keeping me on the straight and narrow, though.

My big fear was that they would get rid of me if I didn't make the grade. There was no way I wanted that hanging over me for the rest of my life.

This photograph, from a training session at Seamill in 1975, shows Jim Casey, Jimmy Murphy, Jock Stein and myself.

Jock was an icon at that time after having led the club to such great successes.

Jock quickly told me what I had to work on for the next five years if I wanted to become a first-team regular, and not to deviate from it. I did everything that he told me.

As a manager he could be ruthless. He could speak to you for two minutes in training and leave you feeling like a wet coat. Then he would speak to you next day and you would come away feeling like Pele. He had a tremendous gift for man management.

2 First team debut

THIS picture of Ronnie Glavin and me was taken at Parkhead after we had returned from a successful tour of Australia in 1977.

I had played a few games before that, but that tournament, and the ensuing season, was when I really established myself in the first team at the tender age of 20.

At a club like Celtic there is always pressure to win games, and that can be very difficult for young players to live with. It is an enormous weight for young shoulders to bear every day in training and in matches.

But Jock realised that. He gave you a run in the first team only for a few weeks, until such time as you could cope with it physically and mentally.

It was difficult coping with the everyday pressures of being a Celtic player at a young age. I found great comfort in my religion then. My faith was a source of strength to me and helped me cope. It put things in perspective.

3 Title heartbreak

I missed the final game of the 1979 season with an ankle injury that subsequently niggled me throughout my playing days. It was a blow, as we beat Rangers 4-2 at Parkhead to win the Premier League in what was to become a famous game. The previous week we played St Mirren at Ibrox. In the first minute of injury time I was running after the ball as it trundled off the pitch behind the goal and I suffered the knock.

But it was still a great achievement. Although we had won the league in 1977, I had played only a handful of games. That season I played in just about every one and was still only 21. As you can see from this picture of the team celebrating - with me in shirt and tie - we had a great side. Guys like Davie Provan, Murdo MacLeod, Danny McGrain, Roy Aitken and Frank McGarvey formed the backbone of the team that enjoyed such success over the next 10 years.

Billy McNeill was a very good manager. He bought great players and was an excellent motivator. I feel the turning point in my career came in the season after that, in 1980, when I married Rosemary. I realised then I had a wife to look after and would have a family to care for as well.

4 Scotland bow

AFTER having played with Celtic in Scotland and in Europe, the next level was international football. I won my first cap in 1981 against Northern Ireland in a 1-1 draw at Hampden.

But at that time Scotland had some great players in my position in the midfield - Graeme Souness, Asa Hartford and John Robertson among many others. They were rarely injured, and so there were few chances for me. Still, I enjoyed the games I did play. One of the highlights was when I came on as a substitute against England at Wembley in 1988, when Andy Roxburgh was manager. That fulfilled a boyhood dream.

This picture shows me winning one of my eight caps, against Holland at Hampden in 1982, alongside Kenny Dalglish and Frank Gray. Scotland won the game 2-1.

5 Double delight

I HAD been in a double-winning squad before with Celtic, in 1977, but I was only 19. In the club's centenary season in 1988 I felt I was really part of it, and that has to be the highlight of my career as a player.

There were some brilliant players in this team that beat Dundee United 2-1 in the Scottish Cup final. They are (left to right, back row) - Mick McCarthy, Anton Rogan, Andy Walker, Chris Morris, Pat Bonner, Allan McKnight, Lex Baillie. Front - Billy Stark, Paul McStay, Roy Aitken, Mark McGhee, Joe Miller, Derek Whyte, Frank McAvennie, then Peter Grant and me.

We lost an early goal, and then there was a huge surge of support for us. It was like getting an electric shock from the terraces. We won with goals by Morris and McAvennie.

It was quite an experience, and all the more special because we knew we would go into the history books.

6 Moving on

WE beat Rangers 1-0 in the 89 Scottish Cup Final, with Joe Miller scoring. A few months into the next season, though, I moved on. It was sad to be leaving after 15 happy years, but at the same time I wanted regular first team football.

I had enjoyed a testimonial against Liverpool, and that was a nice way to bow out. To walk onto the park with 44,000 fans there was incredibly emotional.

I spoke to a number of Premier clubs, and a few in the First Division. Then the manager of Kilmarnock, Jim Fleeting, phoned me. I was very impressed with him as a person and he made me a good financial offer I had a fantastic time at Rugby Park and played over 200 games. This picture shows me in action against Alexei Mikhailichenko of Rangers. We won promotion to the First Division in my first season and then to the top flight. By then I was the manager.

In our first season they relegated three teams, and we managed to stay up, and I am very proud of that achievement. There was an upsurge in support for the club around that time and I still have a great affection for the supporters of that club.

7 Return to Celtic

ONE of the most disappointing things about my move from Killie to Celtic in 1994 was the manner in which it was conducted. It all became a bit murky, and it's not something I am proud to have been involved in. But, because it was Celtic, my heart ruled my head.

It was an early indication of the regime I was going to have to deal with at Celtic. The day before I left I had a meeting with the Kilmarnock owner, Bob Fleeting, and he appealed to me to stay.

He told me what sort of person he thought I would be dealing with at Celtic. He was to be proved right. Fergus McCann and myself both wanted the best for Celtic, but he wanted it at the price that he was prepared to pay. I tried to stress to him the importance of getting in new players, but he always wanted to know about the bottom line.

I felt if we needed to bring in a player there was a slow, frustrating process to go through. Weeks would go by and nothing was done.

Rangers were chasing their eighth title in a row, and I knew the hysteria around the ninth would be huge.

I tried to explain that to Fergus, but he never understood. That was my main complaint with him. I realise he had to get the best deal for the club, but we were always chasing Rangers.

8 My pal Walter

I ALWAYS got on extremely well with Walter Smith, who was the Rangers manager during my time in charge of Celtic.

He was a father figure to me. I took over the job at a very young age and, in the early stages, watched very closely how he conducted himself. He was a great ambassador for his club and a good role model.

When you are the manager of an Old Firm club you have to be very careful what you say. The slightest comment can be picked up and taken the wrong way. Walter and I never had a great deal of contact, but on the occasions that we did he would speak to me like a pal. A great man.

9 Relief at last

WHAT did I feel when Celtic won the Scottish Cup in 1995? Relief, just relief, not so much for me, but for the supporters. Celtic had not won anything for six years and it was a monkey off their backs.

There was a lot of pride involved. The 1-0 win over Airdrie was not a good game, but that was indicative of the pressure involved and the expectation that was heaped upon the players' shoulders.

10 Flair first

THE first thing I wanted to do when I joined Celtic was to inject some excitement into the team in order to get the supporters to come along and watch.

I brought in Pierre van Hooijdonk and we started to score goals. I brought in Tosh McKinlay and Jackie McNamara, players who went forward. After a while I got Andy Thom, Simon Donnelly and Phil O'Donnell into the first team. Then we added Paolo di Canio and Jorge Cadete.

I felt very close to Paolo. What I liked about Paolo the player was that he just had to win. He came from an environment where he had to win, playing for clubs like Lazio, Napoli, AC Milan and Juventus. He was fiery, but I never had any serious problems with him.

When you are building any team you have to work from the back. We wanted to entertain, so we really had to do things the other way around. When we lost against Falkirk in the Scottish Cup in 1997, we were shown to be weak at the back, and that ultimately led to me leaving the club.

It was nice to go down to manage Reading after what I had been through at Celtic. Nobody recognised me in England. In Glasgow, it was impossible for me to walk down the street.

After having spent what they considered to be a lot of money by their standards, though, I was released. We had eight or nine first team players - including both strikers - out injured for four months. It was very very frustrating. We got to within one place of a play-off spot. But, alas, it was not to be.

Eventually, I had no hesitation in returning to my beloved Celtic when Kenny Dalglish invited me to rejoin the coaching team back in 2000. I have had a variety of roles at the club ever since from coaching the young lads to helping out with the first team under current manager Gordon Strachan.

I was also delighted to be invited to join the Scotland coaching set-up as assistant when Berti Vogts took over as manager. I was always honoured to represent my country as a player and gave my all to their cause as part of the back room team. It was a role I continued in when Walter Smith took over.

When Alex McLeish resigned as Scotland manager I was linked with the position. But it would have been very difficult to leave Celtic.

I have spent a long part of my life at the club as a player, as a manager, coach, head of youth and helping with the first team.

It has always been my club. It's a huge part of my life and part of my family's life. It's the kind of place where you look forward to coming in to work.