Everyone’s ‘favourite’ referee Mike Dean has been demoted to the Championship

After a series of controversial calls this season, Mike Dean will not have a Premier League game to take charge of this weekend.

The 48-year-old, who has been officiating in the English top flight for more than a decade, received criticism for some decisions during the Merseyside Derby and Manchester United's win at West Ham. He was criticised for not sending off Ross Barkley in the former, and for showing the red card to Sofiane Feghouli just 15 minutes into the latter. And Dean, whose arrogance has also been criticised by one ex-player, has been demoted to the Championship for the weekend ahead.

Dean showed Feghouli a controversial red card on January 2 (photo credit: Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Dean will be the man in the middle for Barnsley v Leeds United, one of the higher-profile second-tier games coming up. It is only his second Championship match of the season, the other being Birmingham City's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in October - a game in which he dished out five yellow cards. Kevin Friend will take charge of Saturday's early kick-off in the Premier League, a clash between Swansea City and Liverpool, while Andre Marriner has been tasked with overseeing the high-profile televised meeting between fifth-placed Manchester City and second-placed Tottenham Hotspur. The full list of Premier League referees for the upcoming round of fixtures can be found here.