WALTER Smith yesterday recalled his "delightful" discovery of the private side to Tommy Burns which makes the loss of his former rival, assistant manager and ultimately cherished friend so difficult to bear.
In common with everyone who came to know Burns closely, Smith was deeply affected by his death at the age of 51 from cancer in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The two men went toe-to-toe as Old Firm managers from 1994 to 1997, Burns losing
his job at Celtic as a consequence of failure to prevent Smith's Rangers winning a record-equalling nine successive league titles.
While Smith came to admire Burns during that period, it was only when he worked alongside him in charge of Scotland from 2005 to 2007 that he fully appreciated the qualities which made him so popular within football.
"I was delighted when Tam agreed to stay on with Scotland, but it was his former assistant Billy Stark who then asked me if I really knew what I was taking on with him.
"From the outside, Tam was always a manager I imagined to be meticulous in everything he did. But he had this delightful harum-scarum side to him, where he would forget things and lose things.
"He told a great story of how he left the sheets detailing the set plays under his bed in the hotel before one Scotland match when Berti Vogts was manager. When Berti asked him if he had them with him, Tommy said 'yes' then made frantic phone calls to try and get a taxi to bring them from the hotel. I never knew that side to him before I worked with him, but it was a really likeable side.
"He also had a habit of falling asleep at odd times. I was giving my team talk in Norway, before the match in Oslo in September 2005 which we had to win to retain any chance of qualifying for the World Cup. I was trying to wind the players up, then I looked at the front row and there was Tam sleeping. I just had to stop and laugh.
"I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to know him and work with him in recent years. Football aside, he was a terrific man. He had a really nice manner about him and the more I got to know him, the more I enjoyed him.
"There was a side to him, as there is with us all, that people don't see. He was a very humorous man and a very sincere man as well. He was one of the nicest people you could ever meet.
"When he was Celtic manager, he was unfortunate to come up against a Rangers team who were on a mission, if you like, to try and equal Celtic's record of nine-in-a-row. I don't think anyone could have handled it better than he did. In any other set of circumstances, he would probably have gone on to be a very successful Celtic manager.
"He handled it all with a great deal of dignity. There are few who epitomise a club more than Tommy did Celtic. He was a Celtic supporter as a kid and then had a terrific playing career for them. For me, he showed everything that is good about Celtic."
Smith later led a delegation from the Rangers' backroom staff to the ever expanding shrine in memory of Burns which had been forming at the front entrance of Celtic Park since the announcement of his death on Thursday morning.
The Rangers manager was with his assistant Ally McCoist, first-team coach Kenny McDowall, goalkeeping coach Jim Stewart and physiotherapist Pip Yeats. Smith and McCoist carried a floral tribute with the latter also laying out a Celtic scarf with 'RIP' upon it.
"It is a really sad loss for all of us at Rangers," said Smith. "Alistair, Jim, Pip and myself all worked with Tommy at Scotland, while Kenny worked alongside him for a long time at Celtic.
"We are all thinking of his wife Rosemary and his family most of all at this time. It is a sad time, especially when he was of an age where things like this should not happen."
Among the Celtic visitors to the shrine yesterday were first-team squad members Scott Brown, Scott McDonald, Paul Hartley, Derek Riordan, Chris Killen, Jean Joel Perrier-Doumbe, John Kennedy, Barry Robson, Steven Pressley, Artur Boruc, Massimo Donati, Lee Naylor, Gary Caldwell, Georgios Samaras, Stephen McManus and Aiden McGeady.
Kennedy and McManus laid a floral tribute, while Celtic shirts bearing personal hand-written messages were left by Kennedy and McGeady. Club chairman John Reid also brought flowers.
McGeady, for whom Burns was a major influence in his progress from the youth set-up to first team regular, wiped tears from his eyes. The tribute he left read: "Tommy you will always be in my thoughts, I wouldn't be the person I am today without your help, you were always the person I could speak to, above it all as a football player and a coach you were a special person. I'll miss you and also your wit. You'll be dearly missed. Aiden."
Kennedy, whose battle against career-threatening injury was greatly assisted by the support of Burns, left a message which read: "Thanks for everything Tommy. We'll never forget you. Always in our hearts. Hoo haa! John Kennedy."
The full article contains 916 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
