Premier League referee Mike Dean is set to step down from his role at the end of the season, and has named former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger as the toughest manager that he has had to officiate over.
The 53 year-old is believed to be closing in on a new role with him expected to take up a role in the VAR room from next season, and has been speaking about his time refereeing over the years.
After 22 years officiating in the top flight of English football, he has claimed that Arsene Wenger was the man he found most intimidating to ref against.
‘It has to be Arsene when he was at Arsenal,’ he told BBC Sport.
‘I always found it tough, not refereeing Arsenal in general but refereeing Arsenal when he was the manager. It was just his presence – he wanted the best for Arsenal all the time and if he could get any way of getting one over you he would do.
‘Since he has finished football I have seen him and he has been great. Cross the white line and everyone is different, like referees. We are normal people.’
Considering the ‘Fergie Time’ comments and the touchline manner of Sir Alex Ferguson, you would have imagined that he would have been thought of as more intimidating, but Wenger clearly had an aura about him, which clearly helped in keeping his players in line also.
I guess all the best managers must have something about them, which makes them great leaders, but it’s very interesting that Wenger was the more intimidating of the Premier League era.
Do you think all referees will have felt the same way about Wenger?
Patrick
“Mike Dean named as the worst ref in EPL history”
You people are coming out to confess your hatred for Arsenal as a club. we Arsenal fans know quite well that all of your you, EPL referee hate Arsenal so much than any other club in England. Mike Dean is a failure.
he is a bad bad referee!
What and why does it matter what refs think about Wenger, esp after all four years that have elapsed since Wenger was sacked??
Its ancient history now and of no consequence whatsoever.
Oops, sorry Ken 1945, I obviously meant to say since he “resigned”!
So should JA post articles that you are interested in?you might not care but some of us and for your information,it is from a rare interview given by a referee (for last week’s BBC Football Focus)which actually was pretty interesting and whatever you think of him as a ref,he came across quite well even “human”.he spoke amongst other things about the abuse and death threats his daughter got for the red card he gave to Soucek,the sacrifices he had to make to become an elite referee.