Mike Dean makes big claim about his controversial Chelsea vs Tottenham VAR admission
Former PGMOL referee Mike Dean believes his comments over the controversial decision he made to purposely not send Anthony Taylor to the VAR screen in a Chelsea vs Tottenham match last season have been «blown out of proportion».
The incident sparked huge controversy when Spurs defender Cristian Romero was not penalised by Taylor or VAR for clearly pulling on Marc Cucurella's hair in a corner late on in the game, with many claiming it should've been a red card for violent conduct.
The incident was seen by Dean but he chose not to refer Taylor to the screen due to him not wanting the referee to receive any 'grief' from the teams.
The following set-piece then led to Harry Kane scoring a 95th-minute equaliser, leading to jubilant scenes from the travelling Spurs fans and Antonio Conte, who ran past Thomas Tuchel's dugout in celebration for a similar act the Blues boss had done to him 15 minutes prior.
Since then, Dean has stepped down from VAR and PGMOL altogether, but not only does he refute the idea it should've been a red card, but also that he's been 'taken out of context' in reference to him calling Taylor a 'mate' and people are 'making a story' out of his words.
«What happened is that I've seen the incident,» Dean said on Sky Sports. «I've looked at it, on numerous occasions, probably too many times. Yeah, he's pulled his hair — was it a violent act? Probably not but you shouldn't be pulling people's hair.
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»I probably should've sent Antony to the screen, I never did that, and I should've sent him. It's funny because that's all been blown out of context, it's been out there, it's old news.
«I refer to him as a mate but in context,
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