Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has admitted that during his officiating career he occasionally amused himself with personal challenges while matches were ongoing, describing the antics as something he did purely "as a laugh."
Speaking on a podcast hosted by former Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, Dean recalled setting himself informal games during matches, including seeing how long he could go without using his whistle and how long he could remain standing inside the centre circle before moving elsewhere on the pitch.
"We used to say 'we'll kick off now. Right, see how long we can go without blowing a whistle,'" Dean said. He added that he managed to avoid blowing his whistle for spells of 20 to 25 minutes on several occasions during his Premier League career, though he clarified this was before the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee system.
Dean also described a similar self-imposed challenge involving his positioning on the pitch. "I used to stand in the centre circle – see how long I could stay in the centre circle before I had to leave," he explained, adding that his best effort was around 15 minutes. He was quick to stress that these habits were simply him "joking about" rather than any deliberate attempt to avoid his officiating duties.
According to the BBC, refereeing officials have pushed back on Dean's claims, considering them to be unfounded. Any such behavior, if it occurred, would date back to the era before VAR was introduced in 2019, when the body overseeing professional referees operated under different leadership than it does today.
This is not the first time Dean's public comments have generated controversy since his retirement. In a previous interview, he admitted that as a VAR official during a 2022 Premier League match between Chelsea and Tottenham, he chose not to send referee Anthony Taylor to the pitchside monitor to review a potential red card for Tottenham defender Cristian Romero, who had pulled Chelsea's Marc Cucurella by the hair during the 2-2 draw. Dean explained his reasoning at the time by saying, "I didn't want to send him up because he is a mate as well as a referee."
That admission was seen as particularly damaging to the credibility of match officials, given that referees already contend with unfounded accusations of bias and corruption. One serving referee reportedly said Dean's comments made it feel as though he had "thrown them all under a bus," tarnishing the reputation of officials as a whole regardless of the accuracy of his claims.
Dean's latest remarks about whistle-blowing and centre-circle games are considered less serious, though they have still drawn attention. It remains unclear whether any of these self-imposed games ever influenced decisions during actual matches — for instance, if he delayed blowing for a penalty simply to extend one of his personal challenges, that would represent a more serious issue. However, without concrete examples from Dean himself, some have suggested he may have simply been trying to entertain former players during a casual podcast conversation. Podcast co-host and comedian Josh James responded to the story with a joking remark: "Easy money."
Dean enjoyed a 28-year career as a professional referee, beginning in 1985 before moving into the Football League a decade later and reaching the Premier League in 2000. He officiated the 2008 FA Cup final and the 2011 League Cup final at Wembley, stepping down from on-field refereeing in 2022 before retiring the following year after a season serving solely as a VAR official.
Despite being retired for more than four years, the 58-year-old remains one of English football's most recognizable officiating figures, and his comments continue to draw significant public attention whenever they touch on the sensitive subject of refereeing standards and conduct.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.