March 21, (THEWILL) – Referee Mike Dean will retire as a match official at the end of the season, bringing an end to a distinguished career in refereeing.
Dean has officiated more Premier League games than anyone else in history, as well as handing out the most red cards while doing a job that brought him the ire of many football fans.
After 22 years in the English Premier League, he is ready to retire from on-field officiating. Dean is thought to want to stay involved in football and is now in talks with the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) to take on a full-time VAR position.
So far, Dean has officiated a total of 553 Premier League matches, exciting – and irritating – players, fans, and managers with his exuberant style.
He was set to retire at the end of last season, but PGMOL Director Mike Riley persuaded him to stay on for another year in order to mentor younger officials.
Over the next few years, a number of high-profile Premier League officials are expected to follow Dean into retirement. Andre Marriner, Martin Atkinson, Kevin Friend, Jon Moss, and Graham Scott are all over 50 and retiring in the near future is on the cards for them too.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
