Mike Dean appeared on ‘Jamie Vardy’s Having A Party’ — the former Leicester City striker’s YouTube show — and revealed he used to bring off-pitch games into the Premier League “as a laugh.”
The ex-referee enjoyed a 28-year-long professional career, and retired from on-field officiating in 2022. He assumed full-time VAR responsibilities during the 2022-23 season.
Dean has remained a continuous source of controversy, with his post-retirement revelations fuelling theories of match-fixing and corruption among Premier League officials.
Dean admits he used to play games in the Premier League “as a laugh”
“There used to be games we had, as a laugh. We’d say, ‘We’ll kick off now, and see how long we can go without blowing a whistle,’” revealed Dean.
“I’ve done that a few times in the Premier League - before VAR, obviously. Went 20-25 minutes without blowing the whistle, [I would] let it go, let it go, let it go.
“And I used to do another thing - I used to see how long I could stay in the center circle, before I had to leave. That was just me joking about.
“The lads said, ‘You can’t’ - but I got about 15 minutes once, in one game,” Dean concluded, as Vardy and his co-host laughed.
During his final season as a VAR official, Dean claimed headlines for failing to send referee Anthony Taylor to the monitor during a 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
The latter's Cristian Romero pulled the hair of Marc Cucurella, but Dean did not instruct Taylor to approach the monitor as, in the words of Dean himself, “he is a mate, as well as a referee.”
In the 2024/25 season, shortly after Dean retired from officiating, he again fuelled rumours of corruption among Premier League referees by refuting claims for a penalty during the Manchester derby.
Gary Neville believed Manchester United should have received a penalty for a foul on Rasmus Hojlund, but Dean refuted the argument, claiming: “Not in a game like this, mate,” on Sky Sports.
The former official’s latest words on Vardy’s podcasts have prompted social media outrage, with fans questioning the impact of Dean’s “games” on the actual events.
“Disgusting, how many games did that affect negatively?" asked one user. “Is this not borderline match fixing?” questioned another.
“It’s just not what you want to hear, is it?” said one fan, amid pile-ons calling Dean a “clown” and “arrogant.”
