Mike Dean retiring: Dean took his first steps towards becoming a professional referee in the 1980s, shortly after leaving school. "I started in 1985 when I finished school and put on loads of weight and didn't have a job for six months," he told the BBC's Mark Chapman. "I thought about what I could do to keep fit. I like football. I was a goalkeeper, not the most mobile of people. I was 18 or 19 stone when I left school. "I sorted myself out fitness-wise and did a bit of refereeing, went from there to the local leagues and was then lucky enough to get to the Football League in 1995." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60869305 It is not just managers and players who are angered by refereeing decisions, but supporters too - and sometimes the abuse goes too far. In February 2021 Dean sent off West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek in the closing seconds of a draw with Fulham. Dean had been asked by the video assistant referee to check on the pitchside monitor before sending off Soucek for elbowing Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic in the face. please log in to view this image Tomas Soucek's red card was later rescinded "My daughter got death threats," said Dean. "They were saying they knew where we lived and they were going to petrol bomb the house. It was pretty bad. "I told the Premier League; they got the police involved. I reported it to the police and they came around. "My family was affected pretty badly for a couple of weeks. I just took myself off games as I wasn't in the right frame of mind. "I am a pretty strong person at times. I can be weak at other times. I had to be strong for the family that week. It was tough. "I had West Ham four weeks later and I was surprised to get it so soon. I apologised to Soucek but he came over and was great."
If I make a mistake at work, my boss bollocks me. He made a mistake, his daughter gets death threats!! Suppose it’s the public eye which makes that happen. And the sheer idiocy of humans!!
When my son played kids football I cringed at some of the parents who berated refs that gave up their time to allow the games to go ahead on a pìss wet freezing Sunday morning for next to fùck all financial benefit.
