A giant and a gent, Tommy brought a whole new meaning
Parkhead icon helped guide free-falling Killie back to the big time
ASON of the Calton in Glasgow’s east end, Tommy Burns always seemed destined to join the likes of Billy McNeill and Paul McStay in becoming one of Celtic’s great one-club men.
Substituted during a friendly against Ajax on December 6, 1989, he ran to the Jungle and threw in his boots in an emotional gesture that seemed to bring down the curtain on his storied 15 years with his boyhood heroes.
Just 10 days shy of his 33rd birthday that night, it would have been fanciful in that moment to imagine the self-proclaimed ‘supporter who got lucky’ prolonging his playing days elsewhere — let alone making a lasting impact.
Yet the esteem in which Burns is still held by Celtic supporters nearly 15 years after his death is matched by those who follow
Kilmarnock. The bitterness which stemmed from his acrimonious return to Celtic Park as manager in 1994 was never going to cloud the impact he made as a player, coach and manager over five years at Rugby Park.
Burns arrived in East Ayrshire when Kilmarnock were in the bottom tier of Scottish football. He departed having helped them to two promotions and overseen their survival in the top division.
Given that Kilmarnock’s stay in the big time lasted for fully 28 years, the true extent of his legacy there has perhaps only been properly appreciated in the fullness of time.
The club could scarcely have been in worse shape when it shocked Scottish football by agreeing to sign Burns in a £50,000 move on December 9 that year.
Relegated to the old Second Division the previous summer, Killie weren’t so much a sleeping giant as one in free-fall.
Bobby Fleeting had taken over as chairman on St Andrew’s Day and pledged to give his brother and manager Jim the resources to begin the fight back.
Burns’ acquisition was quite the statement of intent.
‘It was such a huge moment for us considering where Tommy was coming from and where we were at that time,’ recalled former Killie skipper Ray Montgomerie.
‘We were part-time back then. I remember it was announced that Tommy had signed for Kilmarnock and the very next day we were told we’d be going full-time.
‘It would still take time to turn it round. But, for the players who were there, it was like a marker being laid down. We had to lift our standards if we still wanted to be at the club.’
There was an immediate test of the former Celtic man’s commitment. On December 16 — his 33rd birthday — Killie travelled to Methil to play East Fife.
The team bus broke down, first on Fenwick Moor, then at Coatbridge and, because of heavy snowfall, its replacement was held up. The players were forced to use their own cars and taxis to complete the journey.
A makeshift team took the field for a delayed kick-off only for the match to be abandoned because several players were suffering from hypothermia.
‘One minute Tommy was playing for Celtic against Ajax and the next he was turning blue at Methil with a group of players he’d probably never heard of,’ said a smiling Montgomerie. ‘You could have forgiven him for having second thoughts.’
It could certainly only get better. By the following May, the aim of promotion had been achieved by the skin of their teeth. Killie were second to champions Brechin City but edged out Stirling Albion on goal difference.
They finished fifth in the second tier the following season and fourth the year after that. But expectations had not been met. Fleeting was sacked, with Burns appointed as player-manager in April 1992 after an initial period as caretaker.
‘I don’t think you could underestimate what Jim had brought to the club,’ Montgomerie added. ‘He did a great job but it was hard to get to where you want to go as a part-time club.
‘Tommy had always been full-time, so we learned from him in terms of what standard we had to get to.’
Inheriting players of the calibre of Craig Paterson, Gus MacPherson, Bobby Williamson and Tom Black, Burns added the experience of George McCluskey and Tommy Wilson.
The Dad’s Army jokes abounded. By any measure, Burns was well backed financially. Failure was not an option.
With no play-offs in those days, Kilmarnock had to finish in the top two. From the start, however, it was clear that Raith Rovers were champions in waiting, with Burns’ team, Dunfermline and St Mirren scrapping it out for second spot.
A gruelling 44-game season, with 36-year-old Burns playing in 39 of them, often felt like a game of pass the parcel.
St Mirren had a promising spell, then Dunfermline put a run together. When the Pars faltered, it was back in Kilmarnock’s hands. However, a loss to Saints with just three games left to play spoke to the frayed nerves of all involved.
But Killie did enough to see off Dumbarton and Cowdenbeath in their next assignments. With a vastly superior goal difference, it meant that a point at home to Hamilton in their final game would render other results irrelevant.
‘We’ve been close to the top of the mountain,’ said Paterson the night before. ‘We’ve just not taken that final step up.’
Montgomerie recalled: ‘With the expectation Tommy had, and also the fans, there was pressure on us to deliver. But what’s playing football if there’s no pressure?’
With a crowd of 12,830 watching on — the second biggest in Scotland that day behind Celtic — Burns’ team survived an early scare when Accies hit the bar to grind out a goalless draw. A decade after being demoted, the scenes of jubilation that culminated in a pitch invasion were tinged with no little relief.
‘We’d a lot of fingers pointed at us telling us all how old we were and that our legs would go,’ Burns said in the aftermath. ‘But they were the players who were here and all you can ever do is try and get the best out of those guys.
‘In my wildest dreams, I probably couldn’t imagine what it would be like to come back again (to the Premier League).
‘At that time, I probably couldn’t see it happening with Kilmarnock as we were in the Second Division and going to places like Methil and getting gubbed. But we kept persevering and it’s all come together. I just thank God for letting me part of this great club.’
In some respects, the hard part
It was a huge moment for us considering where Tommy had come from
was yet to come. With reconstruction coming in the following year, Burns’ newly-promoted side knew three of the top 12 would go down.
An early victory at Ibrox was a welcome boost with successive draws with Celtic helping. When Burns’ men won 2-0 against Celtic at Rugby Park, they were six games from the winning post but then lost ground by losing to Partick Thistle and Motherwell.
They claimed a famous Old Firm home double by beating Rangers thanks to a Tom Black free-kick but still required something from a final-day trip to Easter Road to survive. A goalless draw proved enough for them to stay up on goal difference, with St Johnstone taking the drop.
Burns had proven himself to be a manager of substance. Fergus
McCann, who’d taken control of Celtic that March, wanted him to succeed Lou Macari.
A man who marched to the beat of his own drum, the ScottishCanadian businessman made an approach to Burns and his assistant Billy Stark without first speaking to Kilmarnock.
It eventually cost Celtic a total of £300,000 in fines and compensation, and also damaged relations between the clubs. But it would be wrong to consider the matter anything other than an unfortunate footnote on Burns’ time in Ayrshire.
As the two footballing loves of his tragically short life prepare to lock horns at Hampden this evening, there is an enduring appreciation of the days when Burns Country held a whole new meaning.
‘When Tommy left, there’s no question the fans were against him due to the circumstances of it,’ Montgomerie recalled. ‘I was very close to him and I know how much that affected him.
‘But in the fullness of time, the huge part Tommy played in rebuilding the club is now fully recognised by the support — together with the board and people like Jim Fleeting.’
We learned from him what standard we had to get to