Tommy Burns – A Tribute
I can’t let the sad death of former Celtic footballer and manager pass without paying my respects on here. Tommy passed away yesterday after succumbing to the skin cancer that he was diagnosed with in 2006 and it is terribly sad to view how rapid his decline was.
Tommy was a man who commanded respect from those inside football and out. His playing career with Celtic spanned thirteen years and contained 353 appearances and 52 goals confirming him as a cornerstone at Parkhead. He was one of those rare individuals that defined the Glasgow club – a true ‘Celtic man’. Tommy was a devout Catholic – one whose faith meant a great deal to him. His lifelong dedication to Celtic was surpassed only by his devotion to the Catholic faith, with particular reference to the Virgin Mary. When employed as Celtic manager, Tommy’s desk carried several Marian icons, this was his personal shrine where he would offer his daily prayers. His deep and genuine religious beliefs influenced the caring personality that made him loved and admired by all.
He was also known as one of the game’s great gentleman, a decent and honest man. One would only hear glowing tributes to Tommy from those who had been fortunate enough to meet him or be a part of his life.
Condolences go out to Tommy’s dear wife of 28 years, Rosemary and his four children. My thoughts are with them at this sad time.
Hail, hail Tommy Burns – the legend.
Rest in peace and God keep him.
May 16, 2008 - Posted by Stuart | Sporting Tales | celtic, Glasgow, Tommy Burns
3 Comments »
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
The Tracks of My Tears
Hi, my name is Stuart Frew and I began The Tears of a Clown in August 2007 after experimenting with a few online ideas as a repository for my thoughts and words. My favoured themes can be located below as can a full site search and historical archives for the site. I like to talk about sport (Hibernian FC in particular), music, history and travel, amongst many diverse topics. I’m trained in Psychology but no, sadly, I can’t read your mind.
Please take a look around and feel free to leave a comment or two. I always attempt to reply to visitor’s contributions. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read the site.
Stuart
Search this Site
Visitors
- 711,337 Views
-
Latest Stories
- Notts’ St Patrick’s Day Draw In Blizzard
- Sir Roger Bannister
- Lovely Linby, Nottinghamshire
- Nottingham Railway Station Alight
- Homeless at Christmas
- Snow Days
- Kev Crowley (Fynger Cooper)
- The Marconiphone Radiogram
- Nottingham: Wollaton Park Deer
- Edinburgh In August
- We Are Hibs
- Hibernian FC 2017/18
- Lowdham Book Festival 2017: ‘The Lord Of Milan’
- Grenfell Tower
- Betsy
I Wrote About:
Arnold Belvoir bestwood Big Country Blogging Brian Clough Canada Canadiens catholic caves celtic Clough derbyshire derek riordan Easter Road eddie turnbull edinburgh Epperstone Football Forest Frew Goose Fair grantham Grantham Canal halloween Harby Hibernian Hibs highlands hockey Hoveringham ice hockey kelowna Linby liverpool love Lowdham Lowdham Book Festival mansfield Marathon Meadow Lane Montreal Newstead Abbey Nottingham Nottingham Forest nottingham panthers Nottingham pubs nottinghamshire notts Notts County Okanagan Old Market Square panthers Papplewick pat stanton peachland penticton Petrie pubs Rangers Redhill Robin Hood robin hood marathon ross-shire Running scotland Snow Soul Southwell Stuart Adamson The Who Walking walks Woodborough WoolsthorpeTop Stories
- Psychology: How a Woman's Mind Works
- Nottinghamshire: Old Bestwood
- The Jewish Cemetery, North Sherwood Street, Nottingham
- BYDAND - 'Stand and Fight'
- When one lie leads to another...
- The Grantham Canal Walk (2): Cotgrave to Kinoulton
- Land of Legend and Dreams, Sherwood Forest and The Major Oak
- The Strange Saga of Hughie Green
- Archives
- Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy - Bottesford's Secret...
Twitter Tears
- @drdrewdunn @nottmhistory @BBCNottingham Agree re York House. Pre-site had an interesting past when Nottingham Brew… twitter.com/i/web/status/9… 1 month ago
- RT @mallygraveson: Whilst filming up in the Malawi Highlands, couldn’t resist spreading the @HibsOfficial gospel. We have new members to ou… 1 month ago
- RT @NinetyFive_UK: If #Cornwall did the London Underground... #StPiransDay https://t.co/7hOiQBcToI 1 month ago
- @CxPxC @susy_collins @NottinghamRocks Named so after the former maternity hospital next door on Peel Street. :) 1 month ago
- RT @JamesMelville: Hard Brexiters - Mummy would have been very annoyed with you. https://t.co/SzDQ2hhYMK 1 month ago
- RT @NHSMillion: NHS staff are choosing to sleep at a hospital to ensure they can care for patients tomorrow. Please RT if you think every… 1 month ago
- RT @NewTownFlaneur: When Fifers infiltrate the New Town in a Trojan horse. https://t.co/V47bTqLDGd 1 month ago
Visitor’s Comments
- Stuart on Sir Roger Bannister
- signsofanopencity on Sir Roger Bannister
- Stuart on When one lie leads to another…
- vedika manya shivam on When one lie leads to another…
- Stuart on The Jewish Cemetery, North Sherwood Street, Nottingham
- Jo Pereira-Mendoza on The Jewish Cemetery, North Sherwood Street, Nottingham
- Stuart on The Jewish Cemetery, North Sherwood Street, Nottingham
- Margaret stocks on The Jewish Cemetery, North Sherwood Street, Nottingham
- signsofanopencity on Nottingham Railway Station Alight
- Stuart on Nottingham Railway Station Alight
My Pictures
Subject Themes
Click to Subscribe!
Archives: Hibernian FC
- (Hibs on a) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
- A Hibs Comparison
- A Short History of Hibernian Football Club
- Abdessalam Benjelloun – Enigma
- Alan Gordon
- Always believe in Rob Jones?
- Another Bad Day at the Office for Hibernian
- Another four goals! A few observations on Hibs v Killie
- Being Hibs: ‘Spending some time with the family’
- Can I turn my back, Hibs?
- Cropley – The Second Coming
- Derek Riordan
- Edinburgh Evening News – I’m the ‘Fan of the Week’!
- Good Luck, The Hibees
- Hibernian – Give us a Goal
- Hibernian and its Charitable Roots
- Hibernian appoint Colin Calderwood
- Hibernian FC: Perspective Required
- Hibernian FC: Signings
- Hibernian FC: This is how it feels
- Hibernian Football Club: The Easter Road Tour
- Hibernian: A team to match The Tornadoes (1)
- Hibernian: A team to match The Tornadoes (2)
- Hibernian: A team to match The Tornadoes (3)
- Hibernian: Ten of The Best
- Hibernian: The John Hughes Revolution
- Hibs and Hearts United
- Hibs: McParland a Candidate?
- Hibs: Oh, Zemmama!
- Hibs: The Famous Five Documentary
- Hibs: The Feelgood Factor is Returning
- Hibs: The Prodigal Returns!
- Hibs: The State of Play
- HIbs: Time for Change
- Hibs: We need patience
- Ian McParland is a Hibby!
- Joe and Me
- Lewis Stevenson – Celebrating Ten Years
- Monkey Man
- Peter Barr Cormack – Rock and Roll Footballer!
- Splitting the Auld firm?
- Suffer the Little Children
- The Cabbage and Ribs
- The Harder They Come: Football’s Hard Men
- The Sign of Four
- The Wide Boys
Archives: I Can Hear Music
- 1977 – I Got by in Time
- Ava Maria
- Beatrice Hall
- Carols at Christmas
- Dexys Midnight Runners
- Donovan Leitch (Donovan)
- Elvis – 30 years today
- Focusing on Suicide Prevention
- Geno! Geno! Geno!
- Grace Marian Frew
- I STILL Dig The Beatles…
- Joy Division – The Documentary
- Lest we forget…
- Love Will Tear Us Apart
- Margaret Weaver: A Tribute
- My Generation
- Nottingham Rock City
- Old Soul Revisted
- Pop Goes Mansfield!
- Put a Tape On
- Quadrophenia
- Remembering Ali Tait
- Rest in Peace, James Murtha
- Rest peacefully Sarah
- Restless Natives
- Rock Follies
- Sea and Sand – The Who
- Sing it again Rod!
- Stay Alive
- The Beatles – Practice Makes Perfect
- The Dawn Song of Sherwood Forest
- The Day Nottingham Rocked the World
- The Pied Piper
- The Prince
- The Reason
- The Small Faces – Room for Ravers
- The Top Five Dance Crazes
- These Arms of Mine – Otis Redding
- To New Suicide Survivors
- Top of The Pops 1976 Christmas Special
Archives: On The Road
- A Highland Tour: (1) Glenelg
- A Highland Tour: (2) Plockton and Applecross
- A Highland Tour: (3) Gairloch
- A Highland Tour: (4) Ullapool
- A Highland Tour: (5) Durness
- A Highland Tour: Introduction
- A Line in Southport’s Sand
- A Portrait of Harby, Leicestershire
- A sight you don’t see every day!
- An Edinburgh Birthday Tale
- Antony Gormley’s Another Place
- Arise You Gallant Sweeneys!
- Attenborough Nature Reserve: A Triumph of Nature over Industry
- Autumn in Nottingham
- Bestwood Country Park, Notts
- Bottesford’s Secret…
- Calverton Folk Museum, Nottinghamshire
- Christmas Approaches in Southwell
- Christmas comes but once a year…
- Come a walk around Nottingham Goose Fair with me
- Come Walk the Green Fields of Nottinghamshire
- Culloden Battlefield
- Down by the Riverside – Nottingham to Newark by Bicycle
- Glenelg, Ross-shire
- Grantham Gingerly
- Historic Edinburgh: Mary King’s Close
- In and around Lambley village, Nottinghamshire
- It’s a bit Goose Fair-ish!
- Kelowna is Ablaze Again
- Land of Legend and Dreams, Sherwood Forest and The Major Oak
- Making Hay in Hayfield
- Matlock Bath, Derbyshire
- More Goose Fair Memories
- My Toronto
- My Vancouver (1)
- New Term – Hopes, Dreams and Lifetimes
- Newstead in the Snow
- North Yorkshire: Robin Hood’s Bay and The Cleveland Way
- North Yorkshire: Whitby, Runswick Bay and Staithes
- Nottingham Exchange Arcade
- Nottingham Mushy Peas
- Nottinghamshire countryside: Stoke Bardolph and The Ferryboat Inn
- Nottinghamshire: Old Bestwood
- November in Rufford Park, Notts
- On the Beach
- One Walk and Two Churches (1)
- One Walk and Two Churches (2)
- Sadly missed: Kelly’s Tavern, Newark-on-Trent
- Santorini
- Southwell Minster, Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
- The Beehive at Maplebeck, Nottinghamshire – slight return
- The Bell Inn, Nottingham
- The Cardinal’s Hat, Worcester
- The Caves of Nottingham
- The end of Nottingham’s German Christmas market?
- The Left Lion and Nottingham’s Old Market Square
- The Lincolnshire Poacher
- The Nag’s Head, Woodborough, Nottinghamshire
- The Nottingham Robin Hood Beer Festival 2009
- The Ram Inn, Redhill, Nottingham
- The Ten Bridges of Newark-on-Trent
- The Waverley Steps, Edinburgh
- There’s oil in them thar Nottinghamshire hills!
- Three Things About Nottingham
- Where in Nottinghamshire is this?
- Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, Nottingham
Archives: Ripping Yarns
- A Family of Hate
- A Guide to Nottingham English
- A Message in the Snow
- A strange neighbour
- All Hallows’ Eve
- And Now For Something Completely Different
- ‘Reviewed by Shilpa Shetty’
- ‘We Must Always Love Our Own, Stuart’
- Bird Flu…again?
- Can Arnold do it? Yes it Can!
- Churches as Pubs
- Conkers!
- Cybill…
- Cyclists: Lighten Up!
- Definitely No Deal
- Driving the White Stuff
- Early Term
- Face-off?
- Farcebook
- Four hundred, thousand views
- Free Sister Mary
- Glasgow 1 Terrorism 0
- Hand me a Mince Pie…
- Heard on the Bus…
- Houston, we have a problem…
- Hoveringham Hedgehog
- Ice Bars
- Important Ornithological Study
- Inspector John Rebus
- It was ten years ago today…
- It’s A Big Wheel!
- It’s BEHIND You!
- Jeremy Corbyn and Labour
- Joy in Chile
- Lenten Thoughts
- Looking for Love – Gum Tree style!
- Looking for Love – Gum Tree style!
- Love in the Asylum
- Love in the Asylum
- Lowdham Book Festival (2) Blog-talk with Mike Atkinson
- Making Study a Reality
- Miles Better
- My Apprentice Days
- My Beer Fridge
- My Guide to Scotland
- National Poetry Day
- Nosmo King
- Nottingham Nights!
- Nottingham on Ice!
- Nottingham's Bloggers
- On Heroes
- Poor old Jack Tweed
- Psychology: How a Woman’s Mind Works
- Quaker Notes
- Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
- School Dinners
- Shifting Sands
- Shopping at J C Penney, 1977
- Singer’s Night
- Some thoughts on the 1970s
- SPAM!
- Spot the deliberate mistake
- Stags and Hens
- Tales from the Ark
- The 'Real' Geranium
- The Back Twitchell
- The Bad Comedians
- The Final Day of my Masters Degree
- The Fun starts at Eight o’Clock
- The Guns of Nottingham
- The Legend of the Raleigh Chopper
- The Scots have found something else to do with their ice apart from putting it in drinks!
- The Strange Saga of Hughie Green
- The Ten o’clock Horses
- The Top Twelve Winter Tips
- Thursday Nights – It’s Reunion Time
- Tolerance and Acceptance
- TomTom Turn Around?
- Trick or Treat?
- When one lie leads to another…
Archives: Sporting Tales
- ‘Slim Jim’ Baxter
- An Afternoon with Jimmy Sirrel
- ‘Modern’ football
- Bill McLaren -They’ll be sad in the streets of Hawick tonight
- Bobby McKinlay – a Portrait of Loyalty
- Bodyline and the ‘Silent Killer’
- Brian in Bronze
- Drouin Skates Out
- Football Afro’s
- Football days in Arnold, Nottinghamshire
- Football Disconnected From its Supporters?
- Hibs open Easter Road on Christmas Day for those less fortunate
- Joe Baker – Gentleman and Legend
- Justin Fashanu
- Lasse Viren – ‘The Flying Finn’
- Les Skinner
- Lowdham Festival (1) The Brian Clough Evening
- Mansfield on’t Telly Yooth!
- Maple Leaf Gardens
- Nice One Cyril
- Nigel Doughty 1957-2012
- Nottingham Football Report: March 2016
- Nottingham Panthers v Edinburgh Capitals
- Nottingham Panthers: Titleists?
- Notts County 1975/6
- Notts County – Graveyard of Managers
- Notts County – Nott$watch: The Sad Incidence of Ian McParland’s Departure
- Peter Barr Cormack – Rock and Roll Footballer!
- Remembering a Sixties Great
- Remembering Brian Clough
- Rest in Peace, Jackie Sewell
- Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira
- Silence for Munich
- Some thoughts on George Best
- Suffer the Little Children
- Sven-Goran Eriksson signs for Notts County!
- The Crooked Spire
- The Harder They Come: Football’s Hard Men
- The JJB Experience
- The Joy of Football
- The Nottingham Panthers – Memories from Lower Parliament Street
- The Sign of Four
- The Streak
- The Vuvuzela
- The Wide Boys
- The Worksop Half Marathon
- To win the World Cup?
- What next for Paul Gascoigne?
- World Cup 2010: South Africa 1 Mexico 1
Archives: The Marathon Diaries
- A Physiotherapist visit…and the Running Streak endures
- Hamstrung
- My Fourth Marathon – The Nottingham Robin Hood Marathon, 2009
- The Marathon Diaries: A Minor Miracle!
- The Marathon Diaries: Cleaning up the Act
- The Marathon Diaries: Drug-free Running
- The Marathon Diaries: Injury Strikes
- The Marathon Diaries: Peas in a Pod!
- The Marathon Diaries: The First Fifteen Weeks
- The Marathon Diaries: The Inspiration of Terry Fox
- The Marathon Diaries: Twenty-one up
Archives: Times Gone By
Recommended Blogs
- cadi2014's Blog ‘The journey back from grief to life’
- debunkd. Staffeen’s blog
- Restoration
- SeanMcP Blogfeast
- The Ball is Round
- The Cat’s Whiskers
- the hibLOG
- The Quizzical Observer
- Thinking Love, No Twaddle
- Whale Oil Beef Hooked
Recommended Sites
RIP Tommy Burns
On my visits to Celtic park, Tommy always met me with a smile and a joke. He loved to talk Celtic and never tired of listening to tales of our famous club. I’m in my seventies now and have never met anyone so decent and generous with his time.He always made me feel so happy to have met him. He answered my letters and I know that he meant every word he wrote.
I shall miss him, but surely only a fraction as much as his dear wife Rosemary and his lovely family. There is a saying that ‘Only the good die young’, never more true of Tommy Burns.
Go with God Tommy and rest in peace, your great Celtic family will never forget you.
Thanks for that nice insight into Tommy, Ronnie. That’s a lovely tribute to him.
He will be missed by many.
Stu