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Former Premier League referee Mike Dean says he used to set himself mini-challenges throughout matches “as a laugh”.
Appearing on Jamie Vardy’s podcast, Dean stated he would see how lengthy he may go with out blowing his whistle, or keep contained in the centre circle.
“We used to say ‘we’ll kick off now. Right, see how long we can go without blowing a whistle’,” Dean stated.
“I’ve done that a few times in the Premier League, before VAR obviously – went 20, 25 minutes without blowing a whistle.
“I used to do one other factor. I used to face within the centre circle – see how lengthy I may keep within the centre circle earlier than I needed to go away.
“That was just me joking about. I got about 15 minutes once.”
BBC Sport understands that referee figures take into account Dean’s claims to be unfounded, which might be historic and return to the pre-video assistant referee period earlier than 2019 when Pro Ref was underneath completely different management.
It isn’t the primary time Dean has courted controversy for his media statements.
When performing because the video assistant referee for Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham in August 2022, Dean didn’t ship the referee to the monitor for a purple card for Cristian Romero.
The Spurs defender ought to have been penalised for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
After retiring, Dean stated in an interview that he didn’t intervene as a result of he needed to save lots of referee Anthony Taylor from additional “grief”.
“I didn’t want to send him up because he is a mate as well as a referee,” Dean stated.
Dean loved a 28-year profession as knowledgeable official, stepping down from on-field officiating in 2022 and retiring after spending the 2022-23 season as a full-time VAR.
The 58-year-old started officiating in 1985 and progressed from refereeing within the Football League 10 years later, after which to Premier League in 2000.
Dean refereed the 2008 FA Cup last and 2011 League Cup last at Wembley.
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