Mike Dean has admitted he didn’t appropriate a mistake in a Chelsea-Tottenham match final season to stop his pal Anthony Taylor receiving further “grief”.
Former Premier League referee Dean was on VAR obligation at Stamford Bridge in August 2022 when Chelsea needed Spurs defender Cristian Romero despatched off for pulling Marc Cucurella to the ground by his hair.
Dean says he made a “actually dangerous name” in not sending Taylor to evaluate his choice.
Harry Kane equalised for Spurs from the next stoppage-time nook and the sport completed 2-2.
Each managers – Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel and Tottenham’s Antonio Conte – obtained purple playing cards from Taylor following an offended trade on the finish of the match.
“I missed the silly hair pull at Chelsea versus Tottenham which was pathetic from my viewpoint,” Dean informed Simon Jordan’s Up Entrance podcast.
“It’s certainly one of them the place if I had my time once more, what would I do? I’d ship Anthony (Taylor) to the display screen.
“I believe I knew if I did ship him to the display screen…he’s cautioned each managers.
“I mentioned to Anthony afterwards: ‘I simply didn’t wish to ship you to the display screen after what has gone on within the recreation’.
“I didn’t wish to ship him up as a result of he’s a mate in addition to a referee and I believe I didn’t wish to ship him up as a result of I didn’t need any extra grief than he already had.”
Wirral-born Dean began his profession as a top-flight referee in 2000 and went on to take cost of 553 Premier League matches.
Dean retired from refereeing on the finish of the 2021-22 marketing campaign and have become a devoted Premier League VAR final season.
However he was stood down from VAR obligation for 2 months after the Stamford Bridge incident and admitted the position was one thing he ended up “dreading”.
Dean mentioned: “That was a serious error. In the event that they don’t rating from the nook it’s not as massive a difficulty.
“However I knew full properly then I might be stood down the week after. I requested to take a little bit of day off as a result of it wasn’t for me.
“I used to get within the automobile on a Friday and was dreading Saturday. I used to be pondering, ‘I hope nothing occurs’. I was petrified sitting within the (VAR) chair.”
