Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has claimed he entertained himself during matches by seeing how long he could avoid blowing his whistle or leaving the centre circle.
Speaking on the Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party podcast, Dean described the private challenges he allegedly attempted before the introduction of VAR.
One involved trying to “see how long we can go without blowing a whistle”. Dean claimed he completed stretches of between 20 and 25 minutes on several occasions by repeatedly allowing play to continue.
His other challenge involved remaining inside the centre circle for as long as possible. Dean said he once managed approximately 15 minutes without leaving it.
“That was just me joking about,” he explained.
Both challenges required Dean to restrict activities normally associated with refereeing: identifying offences and moving close enough to see them.
The claims have consequently surprised other former officials and senior figures within Pro Ref, the organisation previously known as PGMOL. Refereeing sources reportedly consider Dean’s account unfounded and say there is no evidence that the games took place.
Former Premier League referee Graham Scott said he had worked extensively with Dean and described the stories as untrue. Mark Halsey similarly said he had never encountered referees playing such games and called upon Dean to identify the matches involved.
The alternative explanations are therefore becoming increasingly difficult to separate.
If Dean’s account is accurate, a Premier League referee occasionally altered his behaviour according to a private challenge being played while two professional teams competed around him.
If it was exaggerated for entertainment, Dean decided that pretending to neglect his responsibilities would make a good podcast story.
It is not the first time Dean has created difficulties for his former profession by explaining his decision-making after retirement. He previously said he declined to recommend a VAR review of Cristian Romero pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair because referee Anthony Taylor was his friend and had already received enough criticism during the match.
Dean was employed to control Premier League games. He has now claimed that, on certain afternoons, the more entertaining challenge was seeing how long he could avoid doing so.
