Our record with this official against the Bhoys is rather good.
OK, so there's a 2-0 defeat earlier this season when Celtic had a rather disputable second goal allowed, but let's look a bit further back. Last season he was in charge when we knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup and he even gave us a penalty, although he failed to send off Stephen McManus for flattening Craig Dargo (with yesterday in mind, perhaps that's a good thing!). And in 2007 we were minutes away from a shock win at Parkhead thanks to a Stephen McGinn goal before we had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
Aside from the Celtic defeat, Mr Richmond has done two Saints games this season. One was the 3-1 defeat to Rangers a few weeks ago when Davie Weir was rather fortunate not to be sent off and there was some controversy over Rangers' equaliser. The other was the memorable win over Hearts in the League Cup semi-final, perhaps his only mistake being the failure to send off Ian Black when already on a booking.
The two Celtic games mentioned above were Mr Richmond's only Saints games in 2007/08 and 08/09. In 2006 he twice sent off opposition players at Love Street, one in a 3-1 cup win over Stenhousemuir and the other in a 2-2 draw at home with Hearts (amusingly it was Paul Hartley he dismissed). The other results that season were a 0-0 draw at Dunfermline, a defeat to Rangers at home with the usual decisions that entails, and a late cup defeat to Dundee United - the winner coming in injury time that didn't exist.
This official oversaw six of our games during the 2005/06 promotion season - and we didn't lose any of them. He was in charge of the original Spartans cup game and the replay, as well as wins over St. Johnstone (he gave them a penalty), 10 man Clyde and Queen of the South, where we scored in stoppage time. There was also a draw with Dundee. Even better is the fact we have a 100 per cent record with him in 2004/05 when we beat Ross County, Raith Rovers and St. Johnstone - in a game which saw him send off three Fake Saints players!
The previous season we failed to win either of the games with him - we drew with Falkirk and lost to Queen of the South in a game that saw Mark Crilly dismissed. 2002/03 was also poor as we lost to Celtic in the cup and Falkirk and Queens in the league.
This season, Mr Richmond has taken charge of three Celtic games, one of which was the one over Saints. There's also a couple of entertaining wins, one 3-2 against Motherwell and the other 4-2 over Dunfermline in the cup when each side had a penalty. Aside from the Saints game last season, he oversaw three Celtic draws - against Dundee United, Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle.
2007/08 wasn't too good for Celtic with this official. Although they beat Aberdeen, they were put out of the Scottish Cup by the Dons at Parkhead, having forced a replay in the last minute of the original game at Pittodrie. Amusingly, Celtic had another cup exit in 2006/07 with Mr Richmond in charge as Falkirk beat them on penalties in the League Cup. However, they did knock Livingston and St. Johnstone out of the Scottish Cup (the latter with the help of a penalty) and they also beat Aberdeen and Hibs in the league, as well as drawing with Motherwell.
Mr Richmond did five Celtic games in 2005/06 and they twice beat Aberdeen and Motherwell and they also beat Inverness Caley Thistle. The previous season they could only draw with Dundee, but did beat Dundee United, and they put Dunfermline out of the Scottish Cup. In 2003/04 they hammered Aberdeen and the cup game against Saints in 2002/03 was his first Celtic game.
Celtic have struggled a bit with this official and our record against them with him in charge isn't too bad. It would be nice if that was still the case after Wednesday.