Premier League referee Mike Dean has been demoted to the Championship this weekend following a series of errors during Manchester United's 2-1 defeat by Chelsea at Old Trafford last Saturday. Assistant referee Simon Beck, who failed to flag Didier Drogba's offside for Chelsea's second goal, will also officiate in the second tier. The pair will take charge of Bristol City's home game against Swansea on Saturday.
Dean's performance drew criticism from Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who described it as a 'poor, poor performance' and submitted a critical match report to the Premier League. However, Professional Game Match Officials Limited stated that the demotion was based solely on the mistakes made, without any interference from Old Trafford.
Dean, a FIFA referee since 2002, failed to award penalties for United when Yuri Zhirkov tripped Park Ji-sung, and for Chelsea when Gary Neville barged into Nicolas Anelka. He also allowed Federico Macheda's goal to stand despite a potential handball. He will serve as fourth official for Wigan Athletic's home game against Portsmouth on 14 April.
Beck has not been informed when he will next officiate in the Premier League and is absent from next week's midweek fixture list. Dean's appointment for the high-profile match had already been questioned after his performance in Burnley's 1-0 defeat by Blackburn Rovers, where Burnley manager Brian Laws claimed Dean was 'conned' into awarding a penalty. Laws described Dean's subsequent appointment to the Manchester United-Chelsea game as 'mad'.
