Mike Dean has been asked to stand down from the next round of Premier League fixtures after his family reportedly received death threats on social media.
The Premier League referee was involved in two controversial incident last week, when he showed a red card to West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek for hitting Aleksandar Mitrovic with his elbow in a goalless draw at Fulham and also also sent off Southampton defender Jan Bednarek in the midweek 9-0 defeat at Manchester United.
Although, Dean’s decision in both games were consequently overturned following an appeal.
The 52-year-old will be in charge of the FA Cup fifth-round tie between Leicester and Brighton on Wednesday night, but was not included in the Premier League list published on Tuesday afternoon.
Professional Game Match Officials Board managing director and former referee Mike Riley offered Dean the organisation’s full support, while Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the threats to Dean and his family were “inexcusable” and called for “greater proactive intervention” from social media companies.
Soucek also spoke out against the criticism levelled at Dean.
The Czech Republic international posted on Twitter: “Whatever decisions are made on the pitch should stay on the pitch.
“I don’t like hearing about it interfering with personal life and I send Mike Dean and his family my support.
“There is no place for abuse of any kind. It is in the past and I’m now focused on the rest of the season.”
Whatever decisions are made on the pitch should stay on the pitch. I don’t like hearing about it interfering with personal life and I send Mike Dean and his family my support. There is no place for abuse of any kind. It is in the past and I’m now focused on the rest of the season https://t.co/Tcofvo8a9X
— Tomáš Souček (@tomassoucek28) February 8, 2021
