IT may be 10 years since his tragic passing at the age of just 51, but the legacy that Tommy Burns left at Celtic lives on.

The current side will attempt to do something at Hampden on Saturday that Burns, or anybody else associated with the Parkhead club since they were founded back in 1887 for that matter, was unable to do in his own distinguished playing and managerial careers.

Yet, many of the players who will attempt to win an historic double treble – something no other team has ever done - by beating Motherwell in the William Hill Scottish Cup final were influenced by the club great.

Brendan Rodgers, the Northern Irishman who will take up his usual position in the technical area for the final game of the 2017/18 campaign, was certainly encouraged to move into coaching and mentored by the Scot during his time at Reading and afterwards.

As he marked the 10th anniversary of Burns’s death yesterday, Rodgers took time to stress that the Glasgow club continues to benefit from the work which he carried out during his life.

“You can look all throughout Celtic and see the players and staff members he influenced, the work he did behind the scenes, the academy here, the drive to get the best facilities he possibly could,” he said.

“The impact he made as a player was great. He genuinely was the supporter who saw himself as being very lucky to play here. But for me legacy is also about the feeling that you give people when you are gone or not there. And every time you think of Tommy the feeling is always a great feeling. What he was as a man gives you that inspiration really to become the man that he was.

“Today it’s 10 years which has flown by, but he is in the thoughts. You see his pictures up here on the wall for the players and staff to look at every day. You see the smiles and he is one memory that will never be forgotten.

“You look at the players here now and beyond. There’s the likes of young Kieran (Tierney) now, but it was all put together by Tommy and John Stevenson all those years ago. It’s a great testament and I think he’d be very proud to see how well the players have done. There was no bigger Celtic supporter.”

Rodgers was personally influenced by Burns, who he grew up cheering on from the terraces at Parkhead as a boy, when he was starting out and it spoke volumes about how much he had learned from him that he had just been named Ladbrokes Premiership Manager of the Year as he talked.

“Tommy was a huge part of my life when I was young,” he said. “He was at Celtic as a player from 1975 to 1989 and it was a real pivotal time for me as a supporter. He was a lynch pin of the team.

“He had a big influence on me as a player, but later on when he got in to coaching and eventually came to Reading he was an influence on me as I was starting out. He was only there a year, but he had a huge impact, because of his aura, intensity and his work as a manager.

“I also saw the struggles management can bring. Yet it never changed him one bit. The legacy for me was, although I didn’t know him as well as other people might have known him, was that he made a huge impact in my life and getting the chance to know him was fantastic.

“The Burns family has huge role to play here at the club. They have in the past and will do in the present and future. It was great to see the boys and the girls go on and do their father proud. Their dad was a superstar, but they have always been humble and honest.”

Rodgers was honoured to receive the Premiership award during a season when Derek McInnes led Aberdeen to a fourth consecutive second place finish, Steve Clarke transformed the fortunes of Kilmarnock and Hibernian performed well under Neil Lennon in their first season back in the top flight.

“There were a lot of guys worthy of winning awards and many who did great work at their clubs,” he said. “Congratulations to Jack Ross (PFA Scotland) and Steve Clarke (SFWA) on their awards and there were a number of others who could also have won. It’s been a great season.

“You have to tip your hat to them. Lenny has brought Hibs up from the Championship into the top league and that’s never easy but, if you look at the last three clubs to come up – Hearts, Rangers and Hibs – they’ve all played some great football and done very well.

“Steve coming in at Kilmarnock has given them a real injection – they’re super organised and you can see the lift he’s given to the team and the club. Jack at St Mirren has done an excellent job. Jim Duffy at Greenock Morton did an excellent job with his limited resources.

“I was disappointed when he lost his job and spoke to him to tell him he’d done a really good job. Steve Robinson has done brilliantly at Motherwell, taking them to two cup finals. The standard of coaching up here is very, very good.”