The WHISTLE blower
To be told you’d never referee an Old Firm game was a massive slap in the face... I could see the door shutting on me Richmond rose through the ranks as a referee but tells Mark Hendry how it came to a bitter end with the SFA
NO professional referee is ever likely to win a popularity contest. But at least the whistlers’ union ensures all refs go through the same trials and tribulations together? For retired Charlie Richmond it seems quite the opposite, in fact.
Once, alongside former referee and friend Mike McCurry, Richmond was dubbed a ‘rebel’ by a superior. That, he says, told him everything he needed to know about how he was viewed among the top brass within the SFA. Richmond retired in 2012 after a season where he was bumped from Premiership matches. He says he won’t ever forget how he was treated by the higher-ups.
Richmond says he was told outright he’d never be given the opportunity to be the man in the middle for an Old Firm derby. He was told he would never take charge of a Scottish Cup or League Cup final. He describes these colossal fixtures as the pinnacle of his profession and remembers how he felt when he learned they would be forever out of reach.
“Reflecting on my career now, I was one of the so-called ‘potential’ referees in the country – and to be told you’re not going to get involved in refereeing Scottish Cup finals or League Cup finals...,” he said. “To be told you’d never referee an Old Firm game – but that it was nothing to do with your refereeing ability – was a massive slap in the face. When I heard that from people I respected up until then, I knew the door was shut.
“I could’ve hung in there and took the money for old rope but it wasn’t for me. I always wanted to get to the top.”
Richmond recalls a summit with bosses at the national stadium where he was questioned about his unwillingness to ‘suck up to the right people’, as he puts it.
“The meeting at Hampden in December 2010, the opening gambit was that it was nothing to do with the refereeing but, ‘You don’t seem to be acting in the refereeing movement’,” he explained. “I thought there were guys delighted to run my line week in, week out. So where were they getting that? It later seemed to become a bit of people talking behind your back. For the head of refereeing at the time and people I had respect for to turn round and say that, I could see the door being shut on me.
“I progressed through the ranks and started getting the Edinburgh derby, Scottish Cup semi-finals, League Cup semis. Then I was fourth official in the Scottish Cup final in 2006 and fourth official in the League Cup final 2007. That points to the next stage, being involved in the Scottish Cup final as a referee. Then ultimately the Old Firm game.
“I would think, ‘I must be in the frame for it’. When you think you’re in with the shout and see a non-FIFA referee being appointed ahead of you, at that time you’re thinking Craig Thomson’s had an Old Firm game, Callum Murray’s had one. Iain Brines. I was in that same category, so why was Charlie Richmond not getting one? Eventually I found out it wasn’t about the refereeing... but where can you go?
“I did five Old Firm derbies as a fourth official and was the only fourth official to do backto-back Old Firms. If you’re good enough to be involved and that if the ref goes down injured, you’re going to take it on, but you’re not good enough on merit, why are you in it, then? Listen, in any walk of life you’re going to have character clashes, but when you don’t move in the right circles...”
It’s a new referee’s turn to take hold of the chaos that is a Celtic vs Rangers clash tomorrow afternoon. Nick Walsh has been appointed whistler for the final derby of the season at Ibrox. He has officiated both clubs this
season in other matches but never one between the two.
Richmond did the same. But he went through his entire refereeing career without managing the big one. “If they had turned around and said I wasn’t good enough for an Old Firm game I could’ve handled that,” he goes on. “That would’ve been fine, I can live with that. I’d have liked to have done one of those games but you just can’t control these things. I worked hard, my marks were good and up near the top of the positions, and other referees were saying I must’ve been in with a shout.”
The 52-year-old did, however, take up the mantle of fourth official during a handful of Old
Firm crunch ties. And during our 90-minute conversation, he outlines why he has nothing but good memories from his times next to the management staff of both clubs on the touchline.
“One of my first games as fourth official was with Martin O’Neill and Alex McLeish,” he said. “Then there was Gordon Strachan and Walter Smith. As fourth official you could have a bit of a laugh. Ally McCoist would have a laugh and a joke as assistant manager and then have a go at you. If I was good enough to be in that position, the next step would’ve been on the field, so I don’t know.
“I remember one of the games Maurice Edu scored near the death and Rangers won 1-0. Walter Smith asked how long was added on and I couldn’t hear right, but it sounded like 11 minutes! He was going off his head. I also remember Tony Mowbray being the manager once and that was when Scott Brown and Kyle Lafferty clashed within a few minutes. Mowbray said, ‘We’ll be lucky to keep 11 men on the park here’. And Brown was sent off for putting his head in Lafferty’s stomach.”
It is still somewhat difficult to swallow for Richmond, despite being almost 10 years retired. He still points to other derby matches, including reffing the Edinburgh duo, to prove his credentials. And in the juniors, games between Auchinleck – where he grew up – and Cumnock are no small thing.
But the Old Firm derby is one match on his bucket list he’ll always regret not ticking off. “Every level of football has that type of thing,” he revealed. “As someone born and bred in Auchinleck having watched many a derby with Cumnock, it escalates a bit there. But I did six Edinburgh derbies as well which was around the time of the influx of the Lithuanian players who, at times, were quite difficult to handle.
“I was phoned after a few of those games being told