Early career Dean began refereeing in 1985. He progressed to officiate in the
Northern Premier League as a referee, becoming a
Football League assistant referee in 1995 and being promoted to the full referees' list in 1997. Until the
Premier League professionalised its referee system in 2001, Dean also worked in a chicken slaughterhouse.
Professional career Dean was appointed to the
Select Group of referees for the Premier League in 2000, being subsequently promoted to the
FIFA international referees' list in 2003. Also in 2003, he was
fourth official to
Graham Barber at the
FA Cup final held at Cardiff's
Millennium Stadium, where
Arsenal beat
Southampton 1–0. He also refereed the
FA Trophy final of that year. Dean made it to the Millennium Stadium eight days later though, when he refereed the
Championship play-off final between
Leeds United and
Watford. Dean's highest refereeing honour came on 17 May 2008 when he took charge of that year's
FA Cup final between
Portsmouth and
Cardiff City, with Trevor Massey and Martin Yerby as his assistants and
Chris Foy as the fourth official. Cardiff's chairman
Peter Ridsdale condemned the attack and said that the supporter would be given a lifelong ban if found guilty. A 24-year-old man was later convicted over the incident and given a three-year ban and £200 fine. No action was taken by the
Football Association of Wales against Cardiff City. On 31 January 2011, Dean was appointed to referee the
2011 League Cup final between Arsenal and
Birmingham City. Birmingham won the match 2–1, with an 89th-minute winning goal by
Obafemi Martins. The Blues had taken the lead through
Nikola Žigić, before
Robin van Persie equalised for Arsenal. Dean issued five yellow cards during the course of the final. In January 2017, Dean was criticised after giving a straight red card to
West Ham midfielder
Sofiane Feghouli for a coming together with
Manchester United defender
Phil Jones, after which Jones writhed on the floor in apparent pain. The red card came after only 15 minutes and with the score at 0–0; Manchester United eventually won the game 2–0. Replays suggested that it was in fact Jones who had committed a dangerous challenge on Feghouli and was himself lucky not to have been sent off. On 2 April 2019, during a game between
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United at
Molineux, Dean issued the 100th red card of his career as a Premier League referee to Manchester United's
Ashley Young, making Dean the first referee in Premier League history to reach the 100 red cards milestone. In February 2021, Dean and his family received
bomb threats following two controversial decisions which saw Dean give a red card to Southampton's
Jan Bednarek and West Ham's
Tomáš Souček in successive games, and asked not to officiate the following weekend Premier League fixtures. Both red cards were rescinded by the FA. Dean made a cameo appearance as himself in Season 2, Episode 8 of the American television series
Ted Lasso. He also made another cameo appearance as himself in Season 3, Episode 12 of
Ted Lasso as the referee in the game between the fictional AFC Richmond and
West Ham United. Dean's retirement was made known on 21 March 2022. He refereed his final game on Matchday 38 of the
2021–22 Premier League season.
Chelsea won 2–1 against
Watford in this game. On 16 August 2022, Dean was dropped as a
video assistant referee (VAR) for a single round in the
2022–23 Premier League season after a controversial performance during a league fixture the day prior between Chelsea and
Tottenham. The controversy surrounds Tottenham's first equaliser by
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, first on his potential foul on Chelsea's
Kai Havertz and subsequently his shot that led to the goal, with Tottenham's
Richarlison standing in an
offside position and potentially blocking Chelsea's
Edouard Mendy line of vision. The other was Tottenham's
Cristian Romero's hair pull on Chelsea's
Marc Cucurella at the final moments of the game, a disallowed action that was reviewed by Dean as not being a foul, leading to Spurs' late equaliser by
Harry Kane in the subsequent corner. Two days later on 18 August, Dean personally admitted his mistake in regards to the incident, adding that he should have asked
Anthony Taylor, the referee during the fixture, to review the hair pull on the pitch-side monitor instead of carrying on. Dean retired as a
video assistant referee (VAR) official in 2023.
European and international matches Dean first international match came in 2004 when he was appointed to a
friendly between
the Netherlands and
Republic of Ireland at the
Amsterdam Arena. The away side won 1–0 thanks to a
Robbie Keane goal. On 30 September 2010, Dean refereed a
Europa League group stage match between
Borussia Dortmund and
Sevilla. Early in the second half he showed a second yellow card to Dortmund player
Marcel Schmelzer for
diving. Dean has also officiated
European Championship qualifying matches. His first appointment was to the
Euro 2008 group F qualifier between
Iceland and
Latvia on 13 October 2007. The game in the Icelandic capital Reykjavík ended with a 4–2 win for the visitors. Dean's next European Championship match was on 12 October 2010 when he oversaw a
group A qualifier for
Euro 2012 between
Belgium and
Austria in Brussels. The away team appeared to have secured a 3–2 victory but two Belgium goals on 87 and 89 minutes overturned that scoreline, only for ten-man Austria to score an injury-time equaliser to earn a 4–4 draw. Dean stepped down from the FIFA international list at the end of 2013 at the mandatory retirement age of 45. ==Statistics==