'I'm not proud of that!' Arsene Wenger responds to Mike Dean's 'intimidating' claim

Arsene Wenger has defended himself after Mike Dean said the Frenchman was the ‘most intimidating manager’ in English football.

The well renowned referee, Dean, is retiring at the end of the season after 22 years of overseeing Premier League matches.

Over two decades, the 52-year-old has been involved in numerous clashes with frustrated managers but, in an interview with BBC Sport, he claimed it was Wenger who most frightened him.

Wenger, told of Dean’s revelations this week, laughed it off saying: ‘Is somebody behind me? Are you making jokes tonight? I’m not very proud of that.’

Wenger – who was at Arsenal for 22 years winning three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups – had several run-ins with Dean during his time managing in England.

None more infamous than at Old Trafford in 2009 when the Frenchman was sent off by the aforementioned Dean for reasons unbeknown to himself.

Wenger duly followed orders and walked up to the stands where he stood up, with his arms out wide, in the middle of Manchester United fans as he struggled to find a seat.

The former Arsenal manager, still perturbed by what happened, revisited the incident and told beIN Sport: ‘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.’

Some 13 years on, Dean says that football changes people’s normal personalities and since that incident Wenger and himself have buried the hatchet.

‘Since he has finished football I have seen him and he has