Mike Dean quits English football after 28 years and steps down as VAR official after just one season
ICONIC former Premier League referee Mike Dean is quitting football after 28 years in the game.
The 55-year-old is leaving his role as a video assistant referee.
He has “reached agreement” with Howard Webb, the head of the Professional Game Match Officials, to leave his role following a number of VAR controversies last season.
That is according to , who claim that Dean was “found to be unsuited to VAR duties”.
Dean, who started his career in the Football League as a linesman, stopped officiating at the end of the 2021/22 Premier League campaign.
He then started a new role as one of two full-time VAR officials with PGMOL.
READ MORE FOOTBALL
But that switch has not panned out as expected and he did not receive a top-flight appointment from February.
This report states that “his unique skillset as a referee did not translate to being able to make decisions remotely from Stockley Park”.
Although the other full-time VAR official, Lee Mason, did last shorter than Dean.
He was stood down from the role following a huge error in Arsenal’s draw with Brentford in February.
Most read in Football
BETTING SPECIAL - BEST NO DEPOSIT CASINO OFFERS
Webb, a former Prem referee himself, has already overseen a major change in personnel since starting his job at the PGMOL.
Veteran whistler .
TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: All the latest news, rumours and confirmed switches from the world of football