Mike Dean, from Heswall in The Wirrall, Cheshire, is 38 years old, and takes charge of his 1st Newcastle match of the 2006/07 season as we travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on October 1st in the Premiership.

Form Guide

Mike has had an interesting start to the season, so far refereeing 3 Premier League games, 2 lower League games and a UEFA Cup game. Incredibly in those matches he has averaged 1 penalty per game, including 2 (one each) in the Championship match between Barnsley and Southampton, and THREE in the Premiership game between Sheffield United and Blackburn, 2 to the home side.

The other was given to Charlton in their 2-0 win over Bolton at The Valley, in which both sides also had a man sent off, with Hermann Hreidarsson and Kevin Davies both walking for elbow use. Last week he also showed a red card to Stoke City’s Clint Hill.

All Competitions Record

Games 6 - Home Wins 2 - Away Wins - 0 - Draws 4 - Home Goals 7 - Away Goals 3

Yellow Cards - Home 8 Away 12 - Red Cards - Home 1 Away 2 - Penalties - Home 4 Away 2

Background

Mike became a Football League referee in 1997/98 and progressed to the Premier League 3 years later. In January 2003 he was nominated as a FIFA International Referee, and is now at Class 3 in the UEFA pyramid. He had his 1st International appointment in June 2004, refereeing Ireland’s 1-0 win over Holland in Amsterdam.

2 months later he was chosen by the Football Association to take charge of the FA Community Shield between Manchester United and Arsenal, showing the high regard he is held in by the powers that be.

Early in 2005 Mike was suspended by the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL). He had got himself involved with Arbitros (Spanish for ‘referees’) Racing, an online horse racing syndicate, and an advert in the Racing Post read “Join Premiership referee Mike Dean in this exciting new venture.”

This was against the terms of his contract, as he was using his status to his advantage. He also failed to request permission to get involved. He was suspended on the eve of Newcastle vs Bolton in that season, which he was due to referee at St James’ Park, and was replaced by Steve Dunn. He was later suspended until 31st May, refereeing 2 Newcastle Reserve games during his spell on the sidelines, and returned to the Premiership in late August after coming home from the aforementioned Turkey tournament.

Following that rocky period he is now right back in favour getting the top appointments he deserves. One of those was last season’s FA Cup Final, which Mike was appointed to (prior to the semi finals), only to be withdrawn after Liverpool made the Final.

In the past The FA have made the appointment the day after the semi finals, and doing so on this occasions would have prevented the heartache Mike no doubt suffered at being appointed to such a prestigious fixture, and then having it taken away from him. He will get the chance in future though, I am sure.

Mike and Newcastle

Mike has refereed 11 Newcastle games to date, of which we have won 6 and lost 5 (55% win rate). Of those 11, 5 were away matches (resulting in 2 wins and 3 defeats, 40% win rate), 9 were Premiership matches (giving us 4 wins and 5 defeats, 44% win rate), and 4 were away Premiership matches (1 win, 3 defeats, 25% win rate).

He has shown 2 red cards in Newcastle games, one to us, at Portman Road in 2001, and one to Spurs, at St James’ Park in April. He has awarded 3 penalties in Newcastle games, one for us, in the aforementioned Spurs game in April, and two against us, one at Portman Road in 2001 and one at St James’ in November 2004. He averages 1.5 yellow cards per game to Newcastle players and just 1.1 per game to our opponents.

Our best win with Mike in Charge was a 3-0 League win over Charlton at St James’ in April 2002, matched by an FA Cup win at St Mary’s against Southampton in January 2004. Our heaviest defeat is 1-3 against Manchester United at St James’ Park in November 2004. The highest scoring game he has been involved in was our 4-3 Worthington Cup win over Bradford City in 2001, while the lowest-scoring has been a 1-0 and four 0-1’s.

There are a couple of other games which could potentially have been here but aren’t. The 1st was that Bolton game in February 2005, which he was removed from due to his suspension and replaced by Steve Dunn. The second was our game with Charlton on 28th December, which of course was postponed less than half an hour before kick-off (but not by Mike). The game was rescheduled for February 22, and Dean was appointed to it, but for whatever reason he was subsequently replaced by Uriah Rennie, much to our chagrin.

Controversy

There hasn’t been a lot of controversy when Newcastle and Mike Dean have crossed paths (mainly because they haven’t crossed paths an awful lot!).

However, in April 2001 when we took on Ipswich at Portman Road there was plenty. First he disallowed what seemed to be a perfectly good goal by Carl Cort, and in the closing stages added insult to injury by awarding a penalty against Nolberto Solano for handballing on the line, and dismissing him for Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity. Marcus Stewart scored the penalty and we lost 0-1.

Minor controversy followed at the Reebok Stadium in March 2004. Steven Taylor made his debut but made a disastrous start when Henrik Pedersen dispossessed him before scoring the only goal of the game from a ridiculous angle wide on Bolton’s left. Taylor and Sir Bobby Robson felt there had been a push by Pedersen but there was very little, if any contact.

Against Spurs in August 2004 Dean failed to award us what seemed a clear penalty when Atouba, who later scored the only goal, shoved Shearer. 3 months later he was back for the visit of Manchester United and failing to spot a clear foul by Wayne Rooney on Andy O’Brien, which led to Manchester United winning a penalty as Given fouled Scholes, while Newcastle were applying pressure having just equalised. Van Nistelrooy scored and Rooney wrapped up a 3-1 win late on.

Last season he refereed Birmingham’s visit to St James’, which we won 1-0. In the game Dean did well to spot and caution a dive by Lazaridis, but he did miss a few handballs by Heskey and made a number of inconsistent decisions, including not giving what appeared a clear backpass by Martin Taylor. He also took charge of our 3-1 win over Spurs, awarding us a definite penalty when Lee Bowyer was sent tumbling by Edgar Davids (indeed an incioent involving the same players could already have seen one awarded), and dismissed Michael Dawson for 2 correct cautions, in a fine display.

Mike and Manchester United

I’ve been able to find 11 Manchester United games Mike has refereed, and of those they have won 7, drawn 1 and lost 3 (64% win rate). 4 of those games have been on their own patch, with them winning all 4, conceding just 2 goals while scoring 11.

He has shown 1 red card in a Manchester United game, and it was to Birmingham City’s Maik Taylor, at Old Trafford. He has also awarded 2 penalties in Man Utd games, both to the Reds, one at Old Trafford and one at St James’ Park (see above).

He averages just 0.8 yellow cards per game to Man Utd players, and 2 per game to opposition players.

Mike and Manchester United vs Newcastle

As said above, he took charge of our 3-1 loss to Manchester United in November 2004 at St James’ Park, but is taking charge of the Old Trafford fixture for the first time.

Conclusions

Mike Dean is a good referee, still one of our younger generation, and can be relied upon to produce the goods. He’s improving all the time, as was shown by his original appointment to last season’s Cup Final, and is still young enough to make it right to the top.

Manchester United vs Newcastle- History

05/06 - We never got going at Old Trafford in March, and two early Wayne Rooney goals, the 1st after an awful backpass by Peter Ramage, saw us off, and in truth it could have been a cricket score.

Man Utd 2-0 Newcastle. Ref: Rob Styles (Hamps). Yellow Cards: MU 0 NU 1. Red Cards: None. Penalties: None.

04/05 - On the back of our successive defeats in Lisbon, Cardiff and Norwich, it was always going to be a tall order to win at Old Trafford. Yet Darren Ambrose gave us a lead which we held until a stunning volley from Wayne Rooney levelled it up, and Wes Brown won it with a header from a corner later.

Man Utd 2-1 Newcastle. Ref: Neale Barry (N.Lincs). Yellow Cards: MU 1 NU 1. Red Cards: None. Penalties: None.

03/04 - Continuing our mid-season revival, we held the Champions to a superb goalless draw. However it could have been better had Paul Durkin awarded us a penalty when Tim Howard clearly fouled Alan Shearer, although he evened it up by disallowing Mikael Silvestre’s goal for a minimal infringement.

Man Utd 0-0 Newcastle. Ref: Paul Durkin (Dorset). Yellow Cards: MU 2 NU 0. Red Cards: None. Penalties: None.

02/03 - In a topsy turvy game Man Utd took the lead through Scholes only for Olly Bernard to equalise. Van Nistelrooy scored twice before Shearer cracked in a free kick for his 100th Premiership goal for us. Van Nistelrooy completed his hat-trick and Solskjaer scored a goal despite a suspiciously foul-looking tangle with Hughes. Bellamy reduced the arrears to 5-3 but we were well beaten.

Man Utd 5-3 Newcastle. Ref: Steve Dunn (Avon). Yellow Cards: MU 2 NU 2. Red Cards: None. Penalties: None.

01/02 - Van Nistelrooy and 2 Scholes goals put Man Utd 3 up before a Shearer header reduced the deficit to 3-1.

Man Utd 3-1 Newcastle. Ref: Peter Jones (Leics). Yellow Cards: MU 1 NU 1. Red Cards: None. Penalties: None