Mike Dean’s future as a VAR is in doubt after he was taken off selection in the Premier League with performance levels part of the decision, sources have told ESPN.
Dean, 58, has not been appointed to a game in the Premier League or FA Cup for two months, when he was in the VAR hub for Leicester City‘s 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Feb. 11.
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That day proved to be a watershed moment for Howard Webb, who in December took over as chief refereeing officer for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organisation that oversees refereeing in English football.
Lee Mason, the second of two full-time VARs in the Premier League along with Dean, failed to identify Christian Norgaard was in an offside position before Ivan Toney scored Brentford‘s equalising goal in a 1-1 draw at Arsenal. The same day, VAR John Brooks applied the offside lines onto the wrong player to disallow a Brighton & Hove Albion goal in a game the Seagulls drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace.
A PGMOL statement said Webb accepted there were “significant errors in the VAR process” and the issues were being “thoroughly reviewed.”
Mason, who was into his second season as a full-time VAR, left his position by mutual consent six days later, while Brooks was replaced as the VAR on his next two appointments as Webb made it clear there must be accountability for mistakes.
