Heswall's Mike Dean, one of our best known top-flight referees, placed himself in the football spotlight on Saturday evening with a decision which got football fans talking over the weekend.

Mike showed his red card to West Ham's forward, Tomas Soucek, towards the very end of a pretty tedious nil nil draw, enlivened only by the sending off and the reaction it provoked.

Soucek's departure followed some malarkey triggered by VAR, overseen by ref Lee Mason. As the Hammers prepared to take a free kick, Soucek's elbow appeared to make contact with the face of Aleksandar Mitrovic - who immediately collapsed to the turf.

This provoked a review in the VAR room of the incident, followed by advice to Mike Dean that he should study it more closely on the pitch-side TV monitor. It seems it was suggested that a 'clenched fist' might have been deployed by the Czech Republic international.

In fairness to Mike and his fellow referees, it must often be difficult to make decisions like this one when definitions of some offences appear to have become increasingly vague or confusing, and which are now often made when the football world is watching replay after replay in real time and slow motion, and forming its own conclusions.

For example, when 'violent conduct' is explored, we often hear the word 'intent', without anyone really understanding what it means in a footballing context.

Furthermore, when the VAR room invites the ref on the pitch to examine an incident, this can only imply that something untoward has taken place and could influence the final decision - in effect the on-pitch referee might feel that if he dismisses the suggestion he is publicly overruling an equal colleague.

Mike Dean took a good look at the replays and ruled, as is his right, that what had taken place constituted a sending off offence.

However, Soucek's early bath unleashed a torrent of disbelief from managers, pundits and players.

Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports: "What is happening to our game? We all love football, but when you see decisions like that…you can blame Mike Dean, VAR, whoever you want. What is he seeing there? He goes over to the screen and still decides to give him a red card.

"He's tried to get his arm out of the way. Mitrovic has tried to grab him, and he lifts his arm to get it out of the way, and completely by accident he catches him. What is football coming to when we give that as a red card?"

Match of the Day's Gary Lineker wrote: "Can't find a soul on here that thinks that's a red card. How can both Lee Mason and Mike Dean both see it as a red? Tomas Soucek must get that overturned."

On twitter, Aston Villa's Jack Grealish asked, "How on earth is that a red card?"

To which Peter Crouch replied: "My pointy elbows wouldn't stand a chance in today's game."