Cundy rips into 'liar' Dean in explosive rant live on talkSPORT

Former Chelsea midfielder Jason Cundy has accused ex-Premier League referee Mike Dean of "lying" about the games he claims he played while refereeing. Dean, who retired as an official in 2022, has been a regular on Sky Sports as an analyst.

However, he has also made many appearances on podcasts in his spare time. His latest one caused a stir, as he claimed to take part in mischievous, inside games while overseeing matches, including staying within the centre circle for as long as possible and seeing how long he could go without blowing his whistle for a foul.

Mirror readers have even called for the FA to investigate the 58-year-old. His stories have also left Cundy enraged, as he feels the former referee has not only been untruthful, but has also given supporters a reason to mistrust officials who are currently working in the game.

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Speaking on talkSPORT, Cundy, when asked about Dean's tale, said: "Liar. He’s a liar. I don’t believe a word that’s come out of his mouth. You cannot stand as a referee for 15 minutes in the centre circle. He’d get done.

"He’s lying to everyone. I don’t know why he is doing it. I don’t believe him. I heard this earlier, that one (staying within the centre circle for as long as possible), is absolute rubbish. That’s easy to find out.

"Go to every game that he refereed in the Premier League. It’s rubbish, he’s a liar. The other one when he was waving ‘Play on, play on’ for 20 minutes. I don’t know what’s going on inside his head, but that’s absolute BS.”

Cundy also believes Dean's stories have also piled the pressure on current officials, who are already being scrutinised and abused by current supporters who feel disgruntled about their decisions.

The ex-defender added: "All you are doing is making the referees who have followed your path, where every single referee and every single decision is scrutinised, and he’s sat there with his legs crossed laughing and joking about something that is so important.

"Let’s say he’s right and he stayed in the centre circle for 15 minutes. How is that helping the future generation of referees in the Premier League? We know as fans how critical we are of refs.

"Now we have someone who is sitting there, smug, laughing, trying to make light of one of the most important jobs in football, every Saturday, when we follow our football club, and he’s making a joke about trying to stay in the football circle."

Ex-Premier League referee Graham Scott also believes Dean's claims were "nonsense" while ex-official Mark Helsey was also left in disbelief, telling BBC Sport: "All my years as a professional referee, I have to say I’ve never heard of these games. Never. And I have to say that I have never, ever thought about playing any sort of game, going out to referee.

"So I’m astounded, and if Mike has played these games, then he’s done that on his own accord. And if he has, then I think we need to know what games he’s done them in? How many games he’s done them in? And it brings into question the integrity of every official.”

Mirror Football approached the FA for comment on Thursday off the back of Dean's claims.

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