Referee Mike Dean has notified police after his family received death threats, and has also asked to miss the Premier League's next round of fixtures.
He issued red cards to Southampton's Jan Bednarek, for a foul in the penalty area, and West Ham's Tomas Soucek, for an elbow on Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic, over the past week, both of which were overturned on appeal.
Both players were sent off after the VAR asked Dean to review the incidents on the pitchside monitor.
Dean is still expected to take charge of the FA Cup fifth-round match between Leicester and Brighton on Wednesday before taking the weekend off.
🤯 Tomas Soucek was shown a red card for this incident at the end of West Ham's 0-0 draw with Fulham.
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) February 6, 2021
👀 Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/gybz9Mskm5
PGMOL managing director Mike Riley offered the organisation’s full support to Dean and condemned the abuse.
“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 in a PGMOL statement.
“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.”
Earlier on Monday, the Football Association confirmed that Soucek's red card had been rescinded.
“Tomas Soucek will be available for West Ham’s next three fixtures following a successful claim of wrongful dismissal," read a statement.
“The midfielder was sent off during a Premier League fixture against Fulham FC on Saturday for violent conduct.”
😡 "The fact Mike Dean went over there and still thinks it's a red card is a genuine worry to me."
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) February 6, 2021
And to everyone else too.
Jamie Redknapp with his damning verdict on the red card given to Tomas Soucek pic.twitter.com/OYy3XomZaQ
😡 Jan Bednarek didn't think it was a foul, Anthony Martial didn't think it was a foul, and neither did many pundits and fans watching.
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) February 2, 2021
So does the law needs to change?pic.twitter.com/AgORYpebtX
