Mike Dean admits that he failed on VAR decision in order to help his “mate” Anthony Taylor

"It was pathetic from my point of view.”

Mike Dean has caused a media storm by admitting that he failed to intervene on a decision with VAR because he wanted to help his mate Anthony Taylor. The Former Video Assistant Referee admits that he made a "pathetic" mistake during Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Tottenham last August. The ex Premier League referee said that he didn't make the call for Taylor to go to the VAR screen, because he didn't want to cause him "any grief." In the game itself, Cristian Romero pulled Marc Cucurella’s hair just moments before Harry Kane slotted home an equaliser on the 96th minute. Despite having the option to do so, Dean admits that he made a mistake by not suggesting to the on-field referee that he should check the monitor for a replay. “I missed the stupid hair pull at Chelsea versus Tottenham which was pathetic from my point of view,” Dean told William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan.

“It’s one of them where if I had my time again, what would I do? I’d send Anthony [Taylor] to the screen. I think I knew if I did send him to the screen … he’s cautioned both managers, he’s had a hell of a game, it’s been such a tough game end to end. “I said to Anthony afterwards: ‘I just didn’t want to send you to the screen after what has gone on in the game’. I didn’t want to send him up because he is a mate as well as a referee and I think I didn’t want to send him up because I didn’t want any more grief than he already had.

“Anthony, he is big and bald and ugly enough to know if he is going to the screen he is going to the screen for a reason. If someone pulls their hair now it’s dead easy. "It’s just a brainwave by me, a really bad call by me, and it kind of affected me as Var going forward.” This just underlines the fact that even though there is technology available to help with these decisions, there will always be the possibility of human error. Dean stood down from the next few PL games and then decided that he would no longer continue as a Video Assistant Referee. “That was a major error. If they don’t score from the corner it is not as big an issue. But I knew full well then I would be stood down the week after. I asked to take a bit of time off because it wasn’t for me. “I used to get in the car on a Friday and was dreading Saturday. I was thinking, ‘I hope nothing happens’. I used to be petrified sitting in the chair.”