Mike Dean has stood down from officiating at a Premier League game this weekend after he and his family received death threats on social media.
Dean, 52, had been involved in two controversial incidents and the threats have been reported to the police.
The referee showed a red card to the West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek for catching Aleksandar Mitrovic with his elbow late on during Saturday’s goalless draw at Fulham and sent off Southampton defender Jan Bednarek in the 9-0 defeat at Manchester United.
Both of the decisions – which followed Dean reviewing each incident on the pitchside monitor after consulting VAR – have since been overturned on appeal. The death threats are understood to have been received over the weekend.
Dean will be in charge of the FA Cup fifth-round tie between Leicester and Brighton on Wednesday night, but asked not to be involved in a Premier League match at the weekend.
The PGMOL’s managing director, Mike Riley, offered the organisation’s full support to Dean and condemned the abuse.
Quick Guide
Police investigate racist abuse of Bristol Rovers' Little
Police are investigating a racist message sent to Bristol Rovers full-back Mark Little on social media on Sunday.
Little (pictured) has become the latest footballer to be targeted online, with the 32-year-old highlighting on Twitter a racist response to a photo he posted on Instagram from an account that has since been deleted.
Rovers were quick to show their support for Little and reported the incident to Avon and Somerset Police.
Inspector Rob Millican said in a statement posted on the force's Twitter account: "We are carrying out a full investigation into a racist social media post sent to a Bristol Rovers footballer on Sunday. Our football liaison officer has made contact with the club and is arranging to speak to the player (on Monday) to take a statement.
"As part of this investigation, we'll be contacting the social media company to try and obtain the details of the account holder and the incident will be referred to the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) and Kick It Out. There's no place for any form of racist abuse. It's abhorrent, unacceptable and will never be tolerated."
The former England Under-19 defender moved to Rovers from Bolton in June 2019 on a free transfer and has made four appearances for the Pirates this season. The club said in a statement on Twitter on Sunday: "There is no place in sport or society for racism. Racism and discrimination will not be tolerated at Bristol Rovers." PA Media
“Threats and abuse of this nature are totally unacceptable and we fully support Mike’s decision to report these messages his family received to the police,” Riley said. “Nobody should be victim of abhorrent messages like this.
“Online abuse is unacceptable in any walk of life and more needs to be done to tackle the problem.”
West Ham’s manager, David Moyes, said the red card shown to Soucek was “an embarrassing decision”.
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