Cheshire referee, Mike Dean has been named as the referee for the Coca-Cola Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley.
He will take charge of the game between Burnley and Sheffield United on Monday 25th May.
Dean began refereeing in 1985. He eventually became a referee in the Northern Premier League before becoming a Football League assistant referee in 1995. Dean was appointed to the full referees’ list in 1997. In 2000 he was finally on the Select Group of referees for the Premier League before being promoted to the FIFA list in 2003.
Mike Dean is no stranger to refereeing a play-offs final having been in charge of the Leeds United versus Watford final back in 2006, when Watford secured their promotion to the Premier League beating the Yorkshire side 3-0.
He would also have refereed a FA Cup Final but for a last minute hitch. Dean was originally scheduled to referee the 2006 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium between Liverpool and West Ham.However the Football Association took the unusual step of replacing him with Alan Wiley after concerns were raised about his ability to be impartial towards Liverpool, a club based near Dean’s home town in the Wirral.
His average for red cards is about 0.25 per game!
The assistant referees (or linesmen to anybody who watches the game) will be Darren Cann and Mick McDonough, while Lee Probert has been named as the fourth official.
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