Dean was verbally harangued by Ferguson during the half-time interval after he overruled his assistant, Jake Collin, and awarded an own goal against Jonny Evans, and the Manchester United manager went on to remonstrate with both Collin and the fourth official, Neil Swarbrick, before taking his seat in the dug out. Dean could have sent Ferguson to the stands, but instead opted to take no action, and also failed to mention the incident in the report he submitted to the Football Association yesterday. As a result, Ferguson cannot receive any retrospective punishment, and Pardew, who was sent to the stands earlier this season for pushing an assistant referee, clearly believes the Scotsman got off lightly.
"I think Mike Dean might feel slightly disappointed he didn't do something about it." said the Newcastle boss.
"I think the pressure that was on him was tough to take for a referee.
"Sometimes when you reflect on a game, when you look back you might have acted differently.
"You do that as a manager and I think he might have done that as a referee.
"It's an emotional game, and apparently they (Dean and Ferguson) had a 'cordial discussion'.
"I've had a few of those myself and sometimes I've ended up in the stands as a result of that 'cordial discussion'. But it's gone now."
Source: northern_echo
