GOAL USA talks to the long time official about technology, making the right decisions, and where refereeing will go next
Mike Dean has experienced the unpleasant side of refereeing. He has "taken the stick" on the streets of England, seen his daughter get death threats on social media, and watched on as his colleagues get harassed and abused at airports. To this day, he doesn't go out with his family much – at least not in the U.K.
But refereeing, those 30 years of his life officiating? Not a single regret.
"I enjoyed refereeing, believe it or not, even though people think, 'How can you enjoy being a referee? It's going to be the worst job!' But it's not. It's just a good job. And I just loved it," Dean tells GOAL.
But he doesn't miss it – not anymore, at least. Dean retired in 2022, stepping away from the game right as digital technology – the dreaded VAR – was becoming a crucial part of the game. He didn't like it at the time, he admits. And he dislikes it even more now.
"I'd refereed in the Premier League for probably 15 years, and I've got someone in my ear telling me I've made a mistake, which I found hard. I didn't like it, and everyone knew. I couldn't get my head around it. I think the players didn't like it at first. Some still don't like it now," Dean said.
These days, when he watches from home, or does punditry work for Sky Sports, Dean sees officials not enjoying the game, former colleagues hesitating before making big decisions, hoping that technology will 'bail them out.'
But VAR is here to stay – Dean knows that. And other technologies will come into the game. Automated offsides is on the way to the Premier League, after a successful trial in the Champions League. And beyond that FIFA and UEFA will always find reasons to tweak things, Dean claimed.
More than anything, though, Dean is just grateful that he can speak his mind – and criticize the things he couldn't talk about when he was in charge.
The former Premier League referee, who spent over 20 years officiating at the highest level, spoke to GOAL USA for the Wednesday Convo – a weekly Q&A with key figures in soccer – about the challenges of being the man in the middle, the role of technology in football, and whether assistant referees will be necessary in the future.
GettyOn refereeing and how it's changed
GOAL: Let's get right into refereeing. How did it change over the course of your career?
DEAN: Well, when I first started, it was mainly just put your kit on, go out and start refereeing. But when you move on to the higher level, nonleague, and then into the Football League, we had the introduction of buzzer flags, communication systems, people carriers to stadiums.
You train on your own previous to moving up the refereeing ladder. Whereas now every single level in the UK you meet as groups at least, probably once every six to eight weeks and train as a group as well. Obviously, the Premier League lads and the Championship guys meet every two to three weeks, and train as a group for two or three days and go over previous stuff. Whereas you go back 20-25, years, there wasn't even any laptops that we were given to look at clips and things like that. But there are loads of things to access now on portals, where you look at team setups and refereeing setups, previous, clashes between the two teams. Whereas, 25-30 years ago, there's nothing like that at all. It was a case of watching a little bit of Match of the Day on TV and then just reading stuff in the newspaper.
So it's moved on massively. And I think you speak to me again, another 10 years time, it will probably have moved on even further than that. So I think we'll end up having a lot more digital stuff going on in football. The automated, offside opportunity and at certain levels… whether they'll have assistant referees moving forward in 10 or 15 years time, who knows?
Because if technology can cover all that kind of stuff, what do you need anybody there for? FIFA and UEFA, they always want to try and do something different, to try and improve it. Sometimes it's a good thing, and sometimes people are saying "Why have they messed around with stuff yet again?" Every June, there's always some little niche within the laws that they try and tinker with to try and score more goals, or try to make the game better, where sometimes if it's not broken, then don't fix it.
AdvertisementGetty/GOALOn training
GOAL: What was training like for you at first?
DEAN: You have to work, and then you have to go and do your stuff after work. So, if you work a normal day job, we used to just run on the street. That's all it was: do five miles here, 10 miles here. There were no pitch sessions you could do, even though you could probably make some yourself. Everybody all thought, as a referee, especially going back 20-25 years you just ran at night time after work, five or six miles a night, or two or three mile jog every night, and that probably takes you over the weekend. And to be fair, 30 years ago, that probably would have done you. It would probably would have done players as well!
Refereeing has moved forward now. We've done our own thing. We didn't have to download any data whatsoever, because there's no such things then, as heart rate monitors and GPS trackers and stuff. When I went full time in 2000 we all got a training plan every week, and we have to cover that strictly every week. Now, after every session that they were given to us, you have to download on your watches, downloads your iPads and computers. And people keep track of what you were doing. So it's moved on massively compared to what it was.
Laurence Griffiths/Getty ImagesOn refereeing decisions
GOAL: You must get asked about decisions all the time. And I am curious, what's the best refereeing decision you've ever made? Does one stick out? Or do you ever think 'yeah, I've definitely got that right there?'
DEAN: There's not many bad decisions you make in a game. There's only major ones that really stick out, where you think "I should have done that, and should have done this." And there's nothing that sticks out. I think every decision you make is probably a good one in your mind. So there's not one sticks out where I've said "yeah I'm made up with that, because it led to that," you know?
I've played some advantages in my time and goals have been scored, and you're talking on the earpiece to the lads on the line. 'This could do with going in because it looks good from our point of view.' I know referees will get some good publicity. I've had some over the years, both as the ref and the VAR, unfortunately. But nothing sticks out as "that was my best decision."
Getty ImagesOn controlling big names
GOAL: You've talked a bit in the past about players who are a nightmare to referee. I think Joey Barton was one you always said was hard…
DEAN: Joey was the kind of guy that if he was going to do something, he'd stick out like a sore thumb. He couldn't do nothing discreetly, because everybody was kind of like looking for him in a roundabout way. The players would be watching him, coaches, the fourth official may well keep an eye on. But that's the kind of player you want sometimes, and obviously the way the game has moved forward in the last 15 years, people like Joey, Robbie Savage, I have mentioned Craig Bellamy as well, and Craig was always hard work on his day.
But you can't really have players like that playing anymore because you because they can't they can't afford to lose them. So, somebody gets sent off two or three times a season, they'd be out at least 10 games a season. You've only got 38 games, so you lose a quarter of the season.
There's not many players now in football, or in the Premier League who like the older style of football. You look at shin pads, and people are putting on shin pads that are like a piece of tissue paper. It's a contact sport, so people have still got to start wearing the right equipment, even though they are FIFA approved. You go back 20 years, you have to wear shin pads, big, thick ones. Now they're wearing like a playing card with a bit of sponge in the back. I think sometimes players are wearing that because they know people can't really tackle the way they could tackle 15 years ago, because A, they can't get away with it, B, if they do try and get away with it VAR will stamp down. So it's a catch 22 situation for players nowadays.
GOAL: When you're managing those big personalities, what's your style? Do you have a rapport? Are you talking to them in advance, saying "this is how I'm going to referee this game?"
DEAN: You can say a lot of things pre-match, you can go in the dressing room. But as soon as the whistle goes, that all goes out of the window. When I was a referee, I was a big communicator on the pitch. I'd talk all the time, nonstop, for 90 minutes. When players are doing one or two things where you think "what's he doing there?" You just have a little word when you go by and try to manage as much as you can. But there's only so much you can do before you start doing the discipline side of things, you know? So I was just a good talker, a good communicator. I think the players kind of understood what I was doing, trying to, get players on my side. You want players on your side, rather than players against you.