Peterborough game sees a return for Mike Dean

14 September 2012 08:49
Wirral referee Mike Dean returns to Turf Moor for the first time tomorrow since bringing our Premier League season to an end as he blew the final whistle in the 4-2 home win against Tottenham.

Dean has refereed us only once since that day. It came in the 2010/11 season at Leicester when we fell to a 4-0 defeat; I don't think anyone could point any fingers at him for that result.

He's refereed us on a number of occasions over the years. He's had his bad days too. I don't think he'll still get too many plaudits from the Bradford City camp for his handling of our game there in 2002, and in particular his handling of Dimitrios Papadopoulos and his, shall we say, failure to stay on his feet.

Likewise, Burnley fans will still be angry as he was conned by Blackburn's Martin Olsson and that penalty decision back in 2010.

But, despite these two games, I was delighted to see his name down for refereeing our game. He might, at times, be a little bit over eager with the cards but he's one of our top referees and watching him you can see exactly why he is rated so.

No referee in England is more adept at keeping the game moving. He has an ability to play an advantage that appears beyond many now refereeing in the Football League.

He certainly can be over eager with the cards. Last season, in 43 games, he handed out 146 yellow cards but just five red cards. The last of those red cards came on the final day of the Premier League season when he dismissed QPR's Joey Barton in that dramatic last day title clinching win for Manchester City. I'm not sure many could disagree with that particular decision.

Tomorrow will be his first game outside the Premier League since April. This season he's refereed three games in which there have been just five yellow cards. The last of those three was Manchester United's 3-2 win at Southampton. On that occasion the only player carded was Saints' defender Jos Hooiveld.

I hope I haven't billed him up only to see a poor performance tomorrow but I do believe we have one of our best referees in Mike Dean who is currently in fourth place in the RATE THE REF Table with a rating of 84.54, a rating which has come from a total of eight games.

The assistant referees are Jake Collin (Liverpool) and Darren England (South Yorkshire). The fourth official is Football League referee Bobby Madley (Wakefield) who refereed our away games at Birmingham and Middlesbrough last season.

Previous Burnley Games

Season Opponents V Res Y R Burnley Players Carded               1997/98 Bournemouth h 2-2 3 0   1997/98 Luton Town h 1-1 3 0 n Cooke 1998/99 Walsall a 1-3 4 0 n Armstrong, Brass, Payton 1999/2000 Chesterfield h 2-1 2 0 n Cowan 1999/2000 Wigan Athletic h 0-0 5 0 n Johnrose, Thomas 2000/01 Crystal Palace h 2-2 1 0   2002/03 Bradford City a 2-2 6 2 n Cook, Papadopoulos, Taylor 2003/04 Bradford City h 4-0 0 0   2003/04 Preston North End a 3-5 4 0 n Blake, Gnohere, West 2003/04 Ipswich Town h 4-2 3 0 n Chaplow, McGregor 2004/05 Blackburn Rovers h 0-0 5 0 n Camara, Hyde 2005/06 Leeds United h 1-2 5 0 n Harley, Hyde 2005/06 Crystal Palace h 0-0 4 0 n Harley, Branch 2006/07 Sunderland h 2-2 3 0 n Hyde 2006/07 Leicester City h 0-1 3 0 n Caldwell 2007/08 Blackpool h 2-2 2 0 n Akinbiyi, Caldwell 2008/09 West Brom a 2-2 0 0   2008/09 Sheffield United W 1-0 4 2 n Carlisle, Kalvenes 2009/10 Tottenham Hotspur a 0-5 2 0 n Bikey 2009/10 Arsenal h 1-1 2 0 n Caldwell, Eagles 2009/10 Blackburn Rovers h 0-1 5 0 n Alexander, Fox, Duff 2009/10 Tottenham Hotspur h 4-2 0 0   2010/11 Leicester City a 0-4 3 0 n Marney, Rodriguez, Bikey

Source: FOOTYMAD