Dean’s back with a red card and dodgy decision

Mike Dean made his return to the game at Burnley yesterday after his dreadful Tomas Soucek decision at Fulham and was once again in the middle of more controversy.

After having Tomas’s red card overturned on appeal following the same decision after showing  Southampton’s James Bednarek red a week earlier,  he was at it again at Turf Moor

This time he dismissed West Brom’s Semi Ajayi after 30 minutes before turning his back on a strong penalty shout in the second half.

Ajayi was shown a straight red after video assistant referee intervention, with the defender adjudged to have denied a goal scoring opportunity when handling the ball on the halfway line.

VAR controversially did not encourage Dean to consult the pitchside monitor in the 53rd minute when Albion skipper Kyle Bartley appeared to control a Conor Townsend header with an outstretched arm inside his own box.

The game’s biggest talking point surrounded the decision not to penalise Baggies defender Bartley and award Burnley a penalty.

“That has got to be a penalty,” said BBC Radio 5 Live summariser Pat Nevin.

“Mike Dean has walked away, he’s not interested – but that is a clear handball to me. Surely they’ve got to have a look at that?”

Former Manchester United striker Dion Dublin was also convinced the Clarets should have been awarded a spot-kick as he watched the game on BBC One’s Final Score.

“I’ve seen the replays a few times,” he added. “You can see it hits Bartley’s right hand below his elbow. It’s a penalty.”

ClaretandHugh says: It’s becoming increasingly hard to take Dean seriously as a referee in this era. His decision making and connection with the VAR team becomes increasingly fragile week by week. In fact this was his first game since 2020 after being taken off the list at his own request and one can only hope that we don’t get him over the rest of the season as controversy simply follows the man around. He and his bosses were probably hoping for a quiet return after the events at St Mary’s and Craven Cottage but the reality is Dean doesn’t do quiet. It will be interesting to see what Dean decides to do as far as his career is concerned at the end of this troubled season.