MIKE DEAN has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson was NOT the toughest manager to referee.
That honour has gone to Arsene Wenger, who guided Arsenal to three Premier League titles.
Dean stepped away from on-field officiating duties in 2022 and gave up his VAR role 12 months later, bringing the curtain down on a 28-year career.
He has insisted that Ferguson did not give him the hairdryer treatment when decisions went against Manchester United.
And he also told how had a frosty relationship with legendary Arsenal chief Wenger.
Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, sponsored by Sky Bet, Dean said: “I never got on with Arsene Wenger.
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“I don’t know what it was – I don’t know whether it was because every time I refereed their game, they lost.
“Every time I went to Arsenal, it just didn’t feel right. I spoke to a few people who used to work there – who have now retired – and they said as soon as the fixtures came out on the Monday and they knew I was refereeing, straight away he was like, ‘We have no chance’. He was the hardest one.
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“There was a bit of a myth about Sir Alex Ferguson and how he used to come in and batter the refs all the time – he never.
“He’d say he did for the TV – but he hardly ever came in the dressing room.
“The way he spoke about it on the TV made it look like he did come in, but they [Wenger and Ferguson] were like chalk and cheese.”
Referees have come in for widespread criticism since the introduction of VAR in the Premier League.
And Dean, 57, is worried about the standard of officiating in the top flight.
He added: “The list of referees in the Premier League is not the strongest it’s ever been. You take four of the top referees out of it, we’re struggling.
“You take our top three referees out of that group, according to Fifa and Uefa – [Anthony] Taylor, [Michael] Oliver and [Chris] Kavanagh – they’ll have a hell of a job trying to get some ‘bigger’ referees to referee those big games.”
