Blinded by tears and the shock of departure

THE death of Tommy Burns in the small hours of Thursday morning was the latest cause for deep mourning at a club that has suffered far too many over the past couple of years.

Tommy's passing followed those of Jimmy Johnstone, John Cushley and Phil O'Donnell. All four were taken prematurely – Cush the oldest at 65, Phil the youngest at 30 years his junior – in a saddening testimony to the randomness of death, its malicious tendency to carry off the unsuspecting.

Among memories of Tommy too numerous to list, one that stands out relates to the decease of another Celtic player, Johnny Doyle, in 1981. An inseparable friend of Burns, Doyle was only 30 when he was electrocuted in a domestic accident and was a Celtic player at the time. It was a measure of Tommy's relationship with Johnny that he was asked to be a pallbearer at the funeral. As he supported his friend's coffin on the way out of the church in Kilmarnock, Tommy had to reach gingerly with his feet for the steps, as he was blinded by tears.

Another great friend and teammate, Davie Provan, recalled yesterday that it was indicative of how distraught Tommy was over Johnny's death that "we practically had to carry him out of the church".

There will be a few more blinded by tears at St Mary's church in the Calton on Tuesday afternoon.