Mike Dean: the referee, the man, the history, the scandals « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
Below we print an open letter to Mike Dean, referee, from Walter Broeckx, referee.
But just before that, here’s a quick summary of Mr Dean’s career…
In 2005 he was suspended from being a ref because he was involved with a betting company. His official crime was “breaching the terms of his contract”.
He was then reinstated and appointed to referee the 2006 FA Cup Final but the FA then unappointed him after it was suggested he might be biased in favour of norther teams, given that he lives in Wirral.
Here’s Walter’s letter…
Dear colleague,
I hope you let me call you so because I am a referee to, be it in a different country and at a lower level then you.
I don’t support a team in my own country – do you? – in the higher leagues but I must admit that I am an Arsenal fan since the 70s.
I can hear you saying: Oh no another Arsenal fan that is going to write me off but just read further because for many years I have been known on many internet sites and news sites as a firm defender of referees.
So for the game at Old Trafford and the penalty you gave to Rooney I will not say any bad word to you. If I would have been in your place I would have given the penalty. 100 per sent sure.
I know some fans are blaming you since evidence on pictures shows that Rooney was falling before he was with Almunia. You can’t be blamed for that. We don’t have the evidence of pictures or video at our disposal on the field. We just have to trust our own view and blow the whistle. The only one to be exposed for that is Rooney who dived for it and deceived you and me.
I will bring on another case to defend you.23 February 2008. Birmingham – Arsenal. We all remember it for the Eduardo horror injury but you also gave Birmingham a penalty in the last seconds. Video evidence later showed that Clichy touched the ball so it was rather a dubious penalty in many eyes but again: I don’t blame you for giving that penalty against Arsenal. You make the decision in a split second and that’s it.
As a ref I know the problems and difficulties all to well. So I always look at the position of the ref and mostly I know why you or a colleague makes his decision and so I defend you or another colleague in those cases.
After all we are human.
But now that the Birmingham – Arsenal game came to my mind I remember another incident just before you gave the Birmingham penalty. Adebayor was running in the Birmingham penalty area when a defender tried to pull his shorts off. It looked like it would fit 2 Adebayors in those shorts at that time. And you just stood there some 10 meters from the incident and didn’t blow your whistle for the obvious penalty. No you let the play continue. Even after the game the Arsenal haters from MOTD said this was a clear penalty. In my view also but I don’t really know if the Fifa rules also apply in the UK for the full 100%?
But just lets go back to Saturday at Old Trafford. In the 39th minute Arshavin played the ball past Fletcher who came in sliding and took a full blow at Arshavin and brought him down. SAF later said that Fletcher touched the ball and indeed he did touch the ball…with his hands. If this wasn’t a penalty when is it ever a penalty? It was 2 faults in one action by the defender.
I know MU fans and some Arsenal fans say: Because Arshavin scored a minute later he made up for the not giving the penalty. Well I must say I totally disagree on that. I’m afraid you made a mess on that occasion, like you did in Birmingham with Adebayor. It is not because Arshavin scores a goal a minute later that the fact that, for the second time, you refuse to give a blatant penalty to Arsenal is made up by.
But you know I always look for rational explanations. Maybe you suffer from some light form of epilepsy? Maybe you suffer from petit mal and don’t know it. It is a soft form of epilepsy where you have seconds or even split seconds that your brain isn’t working properly and you are a little bit absent of the world. This can happen without anyone noticing it. Please check this out with your doctor because it is important that you know it when you have those things.
But if you don’t have this disease, then why on earth didn’t you make the decisions that where clear to see for everyone? Do you have something against Arsenal? Are you a fan of Manchester United and are trying to help them to overcome there opponents? If you don’t have any logical explanation on this I’m afraid I can only call you :
a) a bad referee not worth to carry the Fifa badge
b) a cheater
It’s up to you Mr. Dean to inform us what is going on between you and The Arsenal. Is your medical condition not good enough then stop refereeing. Do you hate the Arsenal then inform the FA so they can give you all the games they won’t but not involving a game from Arsenal?
Time to come out in the open, Mr. Dean, time to say why you don’t blow blatant penalty’s in favour of Arsenal. Because if you are a cheater then you are a disgrace to me and all our colleagues who referee games of football. It is your failure that shines down on us and brings us to in a bad daylight.
Maybe it’s better to call it a day and pick up your season ticket at Old Trafford and watch other refs do the job that you obviously don’t dare to do: blowing a penalty against United at Old Trafford.
Still your colleague, but for how long ?
Yours sincerely
Walter
(c) Untold Arsenal 2009