Mirror Football has rewatched the full 90 minutes of Fulham's goalless draw with Wolves from the 2009/10 Premier League season to test one of the most prominent theories circulating about former referee Mike Dean. The theory suggests Dean deliberately avoided blowing his whistle during the match. The rewatch found that Dean blew his whistle eight times in the opening 16 minutes, effectively shutting down the claim.
Context of the match
The match took place at Craven Cottage in mid-April. Fulham were 12th in the table with no hope of Europe or relegation, and had a UEFA Cup semi-final first-leg tie away to Hamburg five days later. Wolves sat 14th, six points above the relegation zone with four games to go. Both teams had one man up front, and six of Wolves' starting XI were defenders.
Before watching the re-run, the stats were checked: five attempts on goal between them, 14 corners, five offsides, and 20 fouls – nine for Fulham and 11 for Wolves.
First whistle after five-and-a-half minutes
Dean gave the first foul he had the chance to, just five-and-a-half minutes in, when Wolves' David Jones brought down Danny Murphy on Fulham's right-hand side. In the eighth minute, Dean played an advantage when Fulham attacker Zoltan Gera was clipped close to the penalty area. He then blew his whistle for a second time in the eighth minute for a foul throw when Wolves were attacking down their left, which earned linesman Simon Beck a mouthful from Mick McCarthy.
Dean avoided blowing the whistle when Jones and Murphy clashed heads on the 13th minute, with the ball looping out of play. Jones had to go off for stitches with blood seeping out of his wound.
Eight blows in first 16 minutes
Any myth of Dean actively avoiding his whistle was shut down when he blasted five short bursts to tell Fulham right-back Chris Baird where to take the resulting throw-in from. After Jody Craddock was penalised for climbing all over Bobby Zamora in the 16th minute, the count stood at eight whistle blows in the first 16 minutes.
The theory is dead in the water, just like Mike Dean's hopes of ever getting a job with Pro Ref.
