Footballer and football manager. Born and raised in the Calton district of Glasgow, Burns was educated at St. Mary's School. He played for Maryhill Juniors, before joining Celtic as a teenager in 1973. He played 352 league games for the club, scoring 52 goals. He was a member of the team which won the league championship six time from 1977 to 1988. He also helped Celtic win the Scottish Cup in 1980, 1985 and 1988, as well as the Scottish League Cup in 1982. Burns was capped on eight occasions for Scotland. In 1989, aged 32, he reached the end of his career as a player for Celtic and moved to Kilmarnock, becoming player-manager in 1992.
He returned to Celtic as manager in 1994 and took the club to the Scottish Cup Final in 1995. However, after a few poor results and very much suffering from the success of rivals Rangers, he was sacked in 1997. He spent time in Newcastle and Reading before returning to Celtic in 2000 as Youth Development Manager. He was also appointed Assistant Manager of the Scottish national team in 2002, under Berti Vogts and later Walter Smith. In 2002 he became Coach at Celtic.
Having been diagnosed with skin cancer in 2006, he died at his home two years later. His funeral took place in St Mary's Church in Calton and he was buried in Linn Cemetery. Burns is fondly remembered as a talented midfielder who proved himself as an effective manager, with a life-long devotion to Celtic Football Club and was widely respected by both his friends and rivals.
