Arsene Wenger thought presenter Richard Keys was joking when he said Premier League referee Mike Dean called him the most 'intimidating' manager he has ever dealt with.
It was confirmed last month that Dean will hang up his whistle and retire from refereeing duties at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
No referee in the history of the Premier League has handed out more yellow or red cards than the Wirral-born official, who has taken charge of 554 top tier games since his debut in 2000.
Since deciding it was time to call it a day, Dean has spoken in depth about his career.
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For example, he revealed that he was 'nervous' and 'scared' of making a decision in games with big players in the early days, and referenced Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira before eventually overcoming his fears.
Now, the 53-year-old has spoken about the most indimidating manager during his 22 years at the top – and surprisingly, Sir Alex Ferguson does not get much of a mention.
In fact, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was the man he named as the most intimidating.
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"It has to be Arsene [Wenger] when he was at Arsenal," Dean told BBC Sport when asked who the most intimidating person to deal with was.
"I always found it tough, not refereeing Arsenal in general but refereeing Arsenal when he was the manager. It was just his presence - he wanted the best for Arsenal all the time and if he could get any way of getting one over you he would do.
"Since he has finished football I have seen him and he has been great. Cross the white line and everyone is different, like referees. We are normal people."
Wenger reacted to Dean's admission while on punditry duty for bEIN Sports and well, he couldn't quite believe it.
The Frenchman said: “Is somebody behind me? Are you making jokes tonight? I’m not very proud of that!"
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Richard Keys, who presents the show, then brought up the famous moment when he was sent to the stands at Old Trafford.
“He still doesn’t know why. When I was standing in the middle of the stands," Wenger added.
“I didn’t know where to go, nobody told me where I could go and when I went up they told me I had to go to the stands. When I arrived at the stands, of course, there were no free seats so I had a double problem.
"First of all, I didn’t know why I was sent off and nobody could ever explain to me because they apologised after that but, as well, I didn’t know where to go.”
Topics: Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Premier League, Mike Dean
