Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has defended his refereeing career after sparking backlash over comments that he and other officials played “secret games” while officiating matches.
Dean, 61, made the revelations during an appearance on the Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party podcast, where he said one of the challenges involved seeing how long he could go without blowing his whistle.
Mike Dean
“There used to be games that we used to have; as a laugh, we used to say, ‘Right, we’ll kick off now, right? See how long we can go without blowing a whistle,'” GB News reported on Saturday that he told the podcast.
He added: “Done that a few times in the Premier, before VAR obviously. Went 20 to 25 minutes without blowing a whistle a few times. Let it go, let it go, let it go.”
