Mike Dean has admitted he failed to correct a mistake in a Chelsea v Tottenham match last season to prevent his friend Anthony Taylor receiving extra “grief”.
The former Premier League referee Dean was on VAR duty at Stamford Bridge in August 2022 when Chelsea wanted the Spurs defender Cristian Romero sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella to the floor by his hair. Dean says he made a “really bad call” in not sending Taylor to review his decision.
Why would he do that? And why on earth would he admit it later??
He spoke about his new role before the season started in an interview with The Athletic. It’s a good read to understand his mindset going into this new role, and his candle here shows he was serious about what he said.
https://theathletic.com/4767965/2023/08/12/mike-dean-soccer-saturday-sky-rule-changes?source=user-shared-article