Former Premier League referee Mike Dean says he used to set himself mini-challenges during matches “as a laugh”.

Appearing on Jamie Vardy’s podcast, Dean said he would see how long he could go without blowing his whistle, or stay inside the centre circle.

“We used to say ‘we’ll kick off now. Right, see how long we can go without blowing a whistle’,” Dean said.

“I’ve done that a few times in the Premier League, before VAR obviously – went 20, 25 minutes without blowing a whistle.

“I used to do another thing. I used to stand in the centre circle – see how long I could stay in the centre circle before I had to leave.

“That was just me joking about. I got about 15 minutes once.”

BBC Sport understands that referee figures consider Dean’s claims to be unfounded, which would be historical and go back to the pre-video assistant referee era before 2019 when Pro Ref was under different leadership.

It is not the first time Dean has courted controversy for his media statements.

When acting as the video assistant referee for Chelsea‘s 2-2 draw with Tottenham in August 2022, Dean failed to send the referee to the monitor for a red card for Cristian Romero.

The Spurs defender should have been penalised for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.

After retiring, Dean said in an interview that he did not intervene because he wanted to save referee Anthony Taylor from extra “grief”.

“I didn’t want to send him up because he is a mate as well as a referee,” Dean said.

Dean enjoyed a 28-year career as a professional official, stepping down from on-field officiating in 2022 and retiring after spending the 2022-23 season as a full-time VAR.

The 58-year-old began officiating in 1985 and progressed from refereeing in the Football League 10 years later, and then to Premier League in 2000.

Dean refereed the 2008 FA Cup final and 2011 League Cup final at Wembley.

When Dean said in 2023 that he had helped out “a mate” in the Chelsea–Tottenham game from a year earlier, it caused real damage to the reputation of referees.

Officials have to deal with baseless allegations of corruption and favouritism as it is, so giving any kind of credence to a lack of professionalism by a referee is a problem.

As one serving referee told me at the time, it was as though Dean had “thrown them all under a bus”. It tars everyone with the same brush, regardless of the facts.

Dean’s revelations this week are not quite so explosive, and it is difficult to know whether, if true, they could have an impact on a game.

Of course, if Dean refused to blow his whistle to give a penalty because he was playing one of these games, that is a different matter.

But without Dean giving any specific examples, it could equally be the case that he was trying to make himself come across as ‘one of the boys’ when chatting with ex-players.

After making the claim, comedian and podcast co-host Josh James jokingly said to Dean: “Easy money.”

Refereeing bosses consider Dean to be of the old school, a different era when the organisation may not have been quite so professional and progressive.

But even though it is more than four years since Dean stepped out onto a football pitch he remains as well-known as most current referees.

And when he says something controversial, it is going to get traction.