Football fans do not want Mike Dean’s instant and incorrect VAR views

Former referee’s vacillating on Sky only adds to view it is becoming too tough to rule on decisions with any authority in the time available

Were you at the meeting where it was decided that we need instant reactions from Mike Dean when trying to enjoy our Sunday football? Who exactly was calling for this? His contributions to an afternoon of Sky programming dominated by VAR debates were infuriating but far from the only irritant in an element of football coverage that really isn’t doing the job right now.
It’s understandable that the recently retired whistler from the Wirral is reluctant to criticise his former comrades, but just barking out a view and then changing it a few seconds later doesn’t encourage confidence about the decision-making precision of the referee fraternity, and it’s also maddening for TV viewers.
Seeing the penalty box challenge on Liverpool’s Curtis Jones at the end of the first half of the match with Chelsea, Dean initially felt it was a penalty and said: “he’s got a touch on the ball but he’s completely wiped out Jones.” But after VAR showed otherwise, he then said: “the momentum takes [goalkeeper Robert] Sanchez into Jones, so a correct decision to overturn it.”
You can only conclude one of three things: one, Dean doesn’t know what he’s talking about; or two, he’s concurring with whichever of his erstwhile colleagues spoke last.
There is a third possibility: it is too difficult to rule with any authority in the time available.
Presumably he’s got the director in his ear demanding an immediate take but if it’s not feasible for him to be confident, then what’s the point in Dean giving it a go? If football has concluded that the game just happens too quickly, that mistakes get made too often, that the players are such skilled cheats, that the stakes are too high, or any of the other stated reasons to have VAR, then why expect an expert like Dean to pronounce after one viewing?
If it’s not possible for the guy with the whistle a few yards away from the action to be sure, which it demonstrably isn’t, then why would anyone watching from a gantry or on a broadcast feed be better placed to nail it the first time? Sky might as well get Keith from the Red Lion or @‌Salahfan4eva to speak their brains live on the telly and lean into the whole “first draft of history” vibe.
Even Matt Le Tissier thought it was an idiotic thing to say, and you have to go with the expert view, because Le Tiss has shown himself to be a world leader in talking rubbish of late. “Just heard the worst bit of flip flopping on commentary by Mike Dean surrounding that penalty. Embarrassing Mike,” said Le Tissier on social media, for once confining himself to the matter at hand and not banging on about Covid vaccines.
One can concede that having Mike Dean say “search me, mate, I haven’t got a scooby” isn’t going to win any BAFTAs but understanding the machinations of VAR and the granular knowledge of the football laws required is, let’s face it, beyond most of us. We are neither a patient nor a studious nation. Quite a lot of the players, pundits and managers don’t seem 100 per cent au fait about some of the finer points of the laws or the VAR usage, so how is the punter slumped on the sofa at home after a roast dinner, or viewing on a pub TV screen, supposed to follow it all?
The reason football became the biggest and best sports TV in this country is because the matches last a predictable amount of time and almost anyone can understand what’s going on. Increasingly, you’re no longer watching the action so much as waiting for the next debate about the decisions, and it’s very often still unclear after a dozen replays what the fact of the matter is.
Sky has both reacted to and brought about this situation: it’s a weird quirk that Gary Neville gets to hear the results of the debates in Stockley Park and then relay the verdict a split second before you see the referee doing it. Like letting a child pull all of the Christmas crackers. Enough with the spoilers, Gary. Who exactly is all this spectacle for? It doesn’t seem to be for the average TV viewer and the poor communication suggests that, once again, the experience of the paying fan is a long way from being the top priority.