Know the Ref - Celtic home

Last updated : 05 March 2009 By Stuart Gillespie
Mr Richmond does not seem to like Celtic. They have not won any of the last six games in which he has been the referee, although they have still benefited from the odd dodgy decision (more of that later). In addition, the last Saints game he refereed was at Parkhead in December 2007 - when we were just minutes away from a shock win.

His record from our games in 2006/07 is interesting. Twice he sent off opposition players at Love Street - in a 3-1 win over Stenhousemuir in the League Cup and a 2-2 draw with Hearts. He was also the referee of a 0-0 draw against Dunfermline in Fife. However, we suffered a defeat when he took charge of a game against Rangers and there were the usual dodgy decisions against us (although he did rule out one of their goals for offside). More worrying is a Scottish Cup defeat to Dundee United where Gus MacPherson had a bust up with Mr Richmond, partly because United scored the winner in injury time that didn't exist.

It was another game involving an injury time winner that Mr Richmond took charge of in 2006, when we snatched a crucial win over Queen of the South in stoppage time. He took charge of six of our games that season and we didn't lose any of them. They wins over St. Johnstone, Queens and Clyde (they finished with ten men) and a draw with Dundee, as well as both Spartans games.

The record is even better in 2004/05 - we won all three of the games he took charge of. They were against Ross County, Raith Rovers (our goal was from a penalty) and St. Johnstone, where he amusingly and correctly sent off three opposition players. Things weren't as good the season beforewhen we only managed a draw against Falkirk and a defeat to Queen of the South, in which Mark Crilly was sent off.

2002/03 is even worse - a cup defeat to Celtic (not a good omen!) and a defeat at Brockville although there was another Queens win, this time at Palmerston.

As mentioned above, Celtic's record in games involving Mr Richmond is not great in recent years. The three games this season have all been draws - against Hearts, Inverness Caley Thistle and Dundee United. However, in the United game he bottled a decision to give the Arabs a stonewall penalty. He did also get injured and missed nearly three months of the season as a result.

There are two good omens from Mr Richmond's performances last season. As I said earlier, we drew at Parkhead under him. He was also the official when Aberdeen knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup at the quarter final stage, taking charge of the original game and the replay. Celtic's last win with him in charge was August 2007, when they won at Pittodrie.

The previous season saw another cup exit for Celtic with Mr Richmond officiating, this time in the League Cup when Falkirk won at Parkhead on penalties. However, they did also have Scottish Cup wins over Livingston and St. Johnstone under him. Other games that season were wins over Aberdeen and Hibs and a draw at Motherwell.

The five Celtic games from 2005/06 saw comfortable Celtic wins over a variety of teams, although it's not quite the same story from the season before - they only drew with Dundee. They did, however, beat Dundee United and they also knocked Dunfermline out of the Scottish Cup. The previous two seasons saw just a single Celtic game in each - a hammering of Aberdeen and a defeat of us in the Scottish Cup.

While Mr Richmond's earlier years involving Celtic do not make good reason (probably because he was trying to keep in favour with the SFA), the last couple of seasons are good from our point of view. He's certainly no Eddie Smith. He's also only shown one red card all season, and that was on the opening day, so Saturday could be quite interesting with him in charge.