There were no bookings, no sendings-off and few moments of controversy. Travelling home afterwards to write up his match report, Mike Dean could have been forgiven for thinking he had this refereeing lark sussed.
Dean has officiated 552 further Premier League matches in the intervening 22 years and it would be fair to say that not all of them have gone as smoothly for a man who has since become the most recognisable and controversial football referee in the country. Last week it was reported he is to hang up his whistle at the end of the season and he is understood to be in talks with his employers, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, with a view to taking a senior role among the much-maligned curtain-twitchers in the Stockley Park video room.
While the news of his potential new gig has prompted much eye-rolling among the many managers, players, fans and members of the punditocracy who view him as a pompous, overly officious popinjay, the vastly experienced 53‑year‑old might just be the ideal candidate to whip the VAR room into shape.
Dean is reviled by many who see him as something of a showman who seems a little too fond of the limelight, but for all his nutmegs, extravagant gestures and no-look yellow cards – not to mention that infamous and ill-advised celebration of one of his own decisions to play an advantage that led to a Tottenham goal against Aston Villa – he is actually very good at what has, in recent years, become an increasingly difficult job.
