Premier League referee Mike Dean reveals he has been the subject of death threats.
The 53-year-old is retiring at the end of this term after spending the past 22 years as a match official.
Dean is one of the more famous referees in Premier League history, but has not been without controversy during his career.
He reveals that after sending off West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek last year for elbowing Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic in the face, he received death threats.
The decision was successfully appealed by West Ham afterwards.
He told Football Focus: "My daughter got death threats. They were saying they knew where we lived and they were going to petrol bomb the house. It was pretty bad.
"I told the Premier League; they got the police involved. I reported it to the police and they came around. My family was affected pretty badly for a couple of weeks. I just took myself off games as I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I am a pretty strong person at times. I can be weak at other times. I had to be strong for the family that week. It was tough."
He added: "I had West Ham four weeks later and I was surprised to get it so soon.
"I apologised to Soucek but he came over and was great."
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