 Dean in 2016 | |||
| Full name | Mike Dean | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1968-06-02)2 June 1968 (age 57) Wirral, England | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| ?–1997 |  Northern Premier League | Referee | |
| 1995–1997 | The Football League | Assistant referee | |
| 1997–2000 | The Football League | Referee | |
| 2000–2022 | Premier League | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2003–2013 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
Mike Dean (born 2 June 1968)[1] is an English former professionalfootballreferee primarily in thePremier League. He is based inHeswall,Wirral, inNorth West England, and is a member of theCheshire County Football Association.
Since his appointment as aSelect Group referee in 2000, Dean officiated a number of notable matches, including theFA Community Shield and the finals of theFA Cup,Football League Cup andFA Trophy before retiring as a referee in 2022 and as avideo assistant referee (VAR) in 2023.
Dean began refereeing in 1985. He progressed to officiate in theNorthern Premier League as a referee,[2] becoming aFootball Leagueassistant referee in 1995 and being promoted to the full referees' list in 1997. Until thePremier League professionalised its referee system in 2001, Dean also worked in a chicken slaughterhouse.[3]
Dean was appointed to theSelect Group of referees for the Premier League in 2000, being subsequently promoted to theFIFA international referees' list in 2003. Also in 2003, he wasfourth official toGraham Barber at theFA Cup final held at Cardiff'sMillennium Stadium, whereArsenal beatSouthampton 1–0.[1]
Dean took control of the2004 FA Community Shield match between Arsenal andManchester United at the Millennium Stadium, a game which Arsenal won 3–1.[4] He also refereed theFA Trophy final of that year.[1]
Dean was originally appointed to referee the2006 FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium on 13 May 2006 butthe Football Association later replaced him withAlan Wiley after concerns were raised about Dean's ability to be impartial towardsLiverpool, who are based near his hometown in Wirral.[5] Dean made it to the Millennium Stadium eight days later though, when he refereed theChampionship play-off final betweenLeeds United andWatford.
Dean's highest refereeing honour came on 17 May 2008 when he took charge of that year'sFA Cup final betweenPortsmouth andCardiff City, with Trevor Massey and Martin Yerby as his assistants andChris Foy as the fourth official.[2] Dean issued three cautions during the match atWembley Stadium, which was won 1–0 by Portsmouth.
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On 5 April 2009, in aSouth Wales derby between Cardiff City andSwansea City, Dean suffered a cut to the forehead resulting from what appeared to be a coin thrown by a Cardiff supporter. He later awarded Cardiff apenalty kick, which was converted to earn a draw for the home side.[6] Cardiff's chairmanPeter Ridsdale condemned the attack and said that the supporter would be given a lifelong ban if found guilty. A 24-year-old man was later convicted over the incident and given a three-year ban and £200 fine. No action was taken by theFootball Association of Wales against Cardiff City.[7]
On 31 January 2011, Dean was appointed to referee the2011 League Cup final between Arsenal andBirmingham City.[8] Birmingham won the match 2–1, with an 89th-minute winning goal byObafemi Martins. The Blues had taken the lead throughNikola Žigić, beforeRobin van Persie equalised for Arsenal. Dean issued five yellow cards during the course of the final.[9]
In January 2017, Dean was criticised after giving a straight red card toWest Ham midfielderSofiane Feghouli for a coming together withManchester United defenderPhil Jones, after which Jones writhed on the floor in apparent pain.[10][11] The red card came after only 15 minutes and with the score at 0–0; Manchester United eventually won the game 2–0. Replays suggested that it was in fact Jones who had committed a dangerous challenge on Feghouli and was himself lucky not to have been sent off.[10][11] Feghouli's red card was later rescinded.[12]
On 2 April 2019, during a game betweenWolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United atMolineux, Dean issued the 100th red card of his career as a Premier League referee to Manchester United'sAshley Young, making Dean the first referee in Premier League history to reach the 100 red cards milestone.
In February 2021, Dean and his family receivedbomb threats following two controversial decisions which saw Dean give a red card to Southampton'sJan Bednarek and West Ham'sTomáš Souček in successive games, and asked not to officiate the following weekend Premier League fixtures.[13] Both red cards were rescinded by the FA.[14][15]
Dean made a cameo appearance as himself in Season 2, Episode 8 of the American television seriesTed Lasso.[16] He also made another cameo appearance as himself in Season 3, Episode 12 ofTed Lasso as the referee in the game between the fictional AFC Richmond andWest Ham United.
Dean's retirement was made known on 21 March 2022. He refereed his final game on Matchday 38 of the2021–22 Premier League season.Chelsea won 2–1 againstWatford in this game.[17]
On 16 August 2022, Dean was dropped as avideo assistant referee (VAR) for a single round in the2022–23 Premier League season after a controversial performance during a league fixture the day prior between Chelsea andTottenham. The controversy surrounds Tottenham's first equaliser byPierre-Emile Hojbjerg, first on his potential foul on Chelsea'sKai Havertz and subsequently his shot that led to the goal, with Tottenham'sRicharlison standing in anoffside position and potentially blocking Chelsea'sEdouard Mendy line of vision. The other was Tottenham'sCristian Romero's hair pull on Chelsea'sMarc Cucurella at the final moments of the game, a disallowed action that was reviewed by Dean as not being a foul, leading to Spurs' late equaliser byHarry Kane in the subsequent corner. Two days later on 18 August, Dean personally admitted his mistake in regards to the incident, adding that he should have askedAnthony Taylor, the referee during the fixture, to review the hair pull on the pitch-side monitor instead of carrying on.[18]
Dean retired as avideo assistant referee (VAR) official in 2023.[19]
Dean first international match came in 2004 when he was appointed to afriendly betweenthe Netherlands andRepublic of Ireland at theAmsterdam Arena. The away side won 1–0 thanks to aRobbie Keane goal.[20]
On 30 September 2010, Dean refereed aEuropa League group stage match betweenBorussia Dortmund andSevilla. Early in the second half he showed a second yellow card to Dortmund playerMarcel Schmelzer fordiving.[21]
Dean has also officiatedEuropean Championship qualifying matches. His first appointment was to theEuro 2008group F qualifier betweenIceland andLatvia on 13 October 2007. The game in the Icelandic capital Reykjavík ended with a 4–2 win for the visitors. Dean's next European Championship match was on 12 October 2010 when he oversaw agroup A qualifier forEuro 2012 betweenBelgium andAustria in Brussels. The away team appeared to have secured a 3–2 victory but two Belgium goals on 87 and 89 minutes overturned that scoreline, only for ten-man Austria to score an injury-time equaliser to earn a 4–4 draw.
Dean stepped down from the FIFA international list at the end of 2013 at the mandatory retirement age of 45.
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| Season | Games | Total | per game | Total | per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 30 | 83 | 2.77 | 5 | 0.17 |
| 1998–99 | 38 | 96 | 2.53 | 4 | 0.11 |
| 1999–2000 | 39 | 90 | 2.31 | 10 | 0.26 |
| 2000–01 | 37 | 106 | 2.86 | 4 | 0.11 |
| 2001–02 | 35 | 108 | 3.09 | 8 | 0.23 |
| 2002–03 | 36 | 155 | 4.31 | 9 | 0.25 |
| 2003–04 | 38 | 98 | 2.58 | 9 | 0.24 |
| 2004–05 | 24 | 66 | 2.75 | 7 | 0.29 |
| 2005–06 | 41 | 134 | 3.27 | 10 | 0.24 |
| 2006–07 | 43 | 173 | 4.02 | 16 | 0.37 |
| 2007–08 | 45 | 154 | 3.42 | 10 | 0.22 |
| 2008–09 | 44 | 156 | 3.55 | 12 | 0.27 |
| 2009–10 | 43 | 148 | 3.44 | 7 | 0.16 |
| 2010–11 | 43 | 147 | 3.42 | 7 | 0.16 |
| 2011–12 | 43 | 146 | 3.40 | 5 | 0.12 |
| 2012–13 | 40 | 143 | 3.58 | 4 | 0.10 |
| 2013–14 | 38 | 131 | 3.45 | 7 | 0.18 |
| 2014–15 | 38 | 158 | 4.16 | 8 | 0.21 |
| 2015–16 | 41 | 136 | 3.31 | 12 | 0.29 |
| 2016–17 | 36 | 138 | 3.83 | 5 | 0.14 |
| 2017–18 | 25 | 93 | 3.72 | 3 | 0.12 |
| 2018–19 | 29 | 129 | 4.45 | 10 | 0.34 |
| 2019–20 | 27 | 113 | 4.19 | 4 | 0.15 |
| 2020–21 | 30 | 111 | 3.70 | 9 | 0.30 |
| 2021–22 | 29 | 90 | 3.10 | 2 | 0.07 |
*updated as of 2021–22 season
Statistics are for all competitions. No records are available prior to 1997–98.[22]
| Preceded by | FA Community Shield 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | FA Trophy Final 2004 | Succeeded by |