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03rd Jan 2017

Gary Neville sticks up for Mike Dean and says his treatment was “disgraceful”

Neville said the abuse went too far

Rob Burnett

Mike Dean is the talk of the town after his bizarre performance in Manchester United’s win at West Ham on Monday.

The Wirral official sent off Hammers midfielder Sofiane Feghouli after just a quarter of an hour played for a foul on Phil Jones – a decision that many felt was far too harsh, and ensured Dean was in the cross hairs for fans and pundits alike.

This opinion was fairly common on Twitter on Sunday night:

https://twitter.com/AFCMemz/status/815974759389335552

But amidst all the abuse branding Dean arrogant and useless, he has found an unlikely defender.

Gary Neville is famed for his forthright views as a pundit but early this morning he took to twitter to defend the under fire ref.

One follower suggested Neville was applying double standards – but he disagreed.

Whether Dean is finding any comfort in Neville’s support (or whether he isn’t even on twitter so has no idea how much abuse he was getting in the first place) we just don’t know. But we’ll leave you with this clip of him dealing with the pre-match bubbles at West Ham, just for funsies.