Willie Collum will referee the December 28 clash between Celtic and Rangers.
Collum has only ever handled one previous derby clash when he gave Rangers a penalty last October despite having his back to play when Kirk Broadfoot fell theatrically in the penalty box.
The 31-year-old has refereed three Celtic matches already this season and has taken charge of two Rangers games.
During the October 29 Aberdeen v Rangers match he issued a straight red card to Dons striker Rory Fallon which was downgraded to a yellow after an appeal from Aberdeen.
Collum’s appointment brings to an end Craig Thomson’s monopoly on the fixture after refereeing three consecutive derby matches. Calum Murray will be Colum’s fourth official with Graham Chambers and Gordon Drummond as assistants.
Saturday’s Celtic v Kilmarnock match will be refereed by George Salmond with Stevie McLean taking charge of the St Mirren v Rangers clash.
On January 2 Iain Brines will referee the Dunfermline v Celtic match with Euan ‘spot-kick’ Norris in charge of the Rangers v Motherwell match.
Bobby Madden who refereed Saturday’s controversial Rangers v Inverness Caley Thistle match has been given just one festive SPL appointment- the January 2 match between Kilmarnock and St Mirren- with Steve Conroy and Charlie Richmond left out of any SPL appointments.
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Giving this game to Collum only shows that we have them running scared and must be getting too close.
Collum is a disgrace not only to Celtic fans, but to the game in general. He is a joke and one of the most anti-Celtic refs since Hugh Dallas.
I guess this announcement has been made this far in advance so that the cheats from accross the city can relax a little over Christmas knowing their favourite little cheat will be in their corner.
The times do change Greenjedi!
I believe that in his youth Mo Johnstone was a Celtic fan, from weekend pictures he seems to be a fan of cream cakes and big macs.
Joe
Amazingly he was a Celtic fan as a youngster. I knew him 20 years ago and he went to most home games!
I wouldn’t tell him were a birds nest is not trustworthy in my opinion.
Celtic are at a disadvantage before a ball has been kicked, we will need a strategy for the game and a strategy for coping with the referee. This guy was literally caught cheating when he refereed his last Glasgow Derby when he gave a penalty for an incident he could not possibly have seen, and yet even though he is proven to be a cheat he is still given this game and is still a referee.
The problem is he doesn’t consider himself a cheat, and worse still, neither do the SPL! They consider he is doing what they tell him to do.
collum Ref or not 3 – 1 for CELTIC come on the GB lead the way.We got the manky mob running scared when laugherty is praising us.HAIL HAIL