Scotland fan who died of cancer on birthday to have ashes scattered at Euros

A loyal Scotland fan who died of brain cancer on his birthday will have his ashes scattered by Tartan Army friends in Germany.

Tommy Brechany from Irvine passed away on his 49th birthday in December 2023 after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

The father had followed the Scottish national team for nearly 30 years, and was due to travel to Germany for the Euros to watch Steve Clarke’s men take on the hosts, Switzerland and Hungary.

He was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma, the most common high grade primary brain tumour in adults.

To pay tribute to the Tartan Army loyal, friends are to gather in Munich ahead of the opening game and scatter his ashes with a bagpiper there to mark the moment.

Chelsea Crews, his daughter, who got a tattoo with her sister saying “Dad’s Tartan Army” after he died told STV News: “With my dad passing, we decided we wouldn’t go to Germany but his friend and his two boys will.

“They’re going to carry my dad’s ashes to Munich, his friend is hoping once he goes over he gets a feel for somewhere that he would feel best for my Dad.

“There’s going to be a bagpiper there, we had a piper at my dad’s funeral piping his coffin in to Flower of Scotland.

“There’s going to be a gathering of a few fans there to scatter the ashes there.”

The family were told his tumour had shrunk a week before he passed away after a brain scan.

Chelsea added: “He was on a chemotherapy tablet every single day.

“He went for a brain scan two weeks before he passed and the week before he passed they brought us in and said his tumour had shrunk.

“The doctors were amazed at how much it had debulked, but he died a week later on his birthday.”

She added: “It mean everything to my dad that Scotland qualified, more so after he was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma.

“The symptoms of that is that you become obsessed with certain things and one of his would be Scotland – the team and the country.

“Once we qualified, I will never forget his face. Even though he was going through the cancer, he jumped off that couch.

“I remember him saying ‘We’re going to Germany’. I will never forget it, we were all in tears.

“But once the tickets came out in December, I think he must have felt it – that he wasn’t going to make it.

“It was his one wish to get to Germany, but he just didn’t make it.”

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