The football minigames that have become a phenomenon thanks to former Premier League referee Mike Dean seem to have made their way into management – in a more light-hearted way.

Former Newcastle and England midfielder and current Southend United manager Kieron Dyer came clean during his pre-match press conference ahead of his side’s fifth-tier game against Yeovil Town that he had been put up to a challenge by members of his squad.

As Dyer’s press conference came to a close, members of the media got up to leave the room, before Dyer grabbed their attention to make his confession.

‘Sorry, sorry, just to say…’ Dyer began. ‘I was challenged by the lads to see how many Michael Jackson songs I could get into my press conference. The money will be donated to charity, but I got quite a few in, I think.’

Those in the room were left stunned, as they playfully questioned how the 33-cap ex-England star had managed the feat.

Southend shared a clip of all of Dyer’s references to their social media pages. Some were more smooth than others, including the first: ‘Obviously at the club we want to be starting something really good, and recruitment is a massive part of that,’ was said in reference to Jackson’s 1983 hit Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.

Kieron Dyer was challenged by his Southend players to fit Michael Jackson song names into his press conference

Others, though, felt more forced. Dyer added: ‘I expect a real thriller of a game on Saturday,’ and: ‘It’s always good to reflect and look at the man in the mirror.’

Perhaps the most impressive inclusion was when he got two Jackson songs into one sentence, saying: ‘Football is never going to be black or white, there’s going to be the good and the bad,’ in reference to 1991 and 1987 hits Black or White and Bad.

Later, when talking about transfers, he continued: ‘We have targets in mind. I can’t name names, but it could be a random Joe Bloggs or a random Billie Jean.’

No one in the press room seemed to pick up on the references, and a laughing Dyer said after the press conference had ended: ‘I can’t believe you didn’t clock that. Especially when I said Billie Jean.

‘Sorry about that, but I got challenged and hopefully I’ve raised some money for charity.’

The press conference came a matter of hours after former Premier League official Dean came under fire for supposedly admitting to playing his own minigames during top flight matches. 

Dean, 58, retired from refereeing in 2023 after over 20 years of officiating at the highest level in English football.

Now that the dust has settled on his professional career in the game, Dean has admitted to playing a game where he would see how long he could go without blowing his whistle during Premier League matches.

Mike Dean has admitted to sometimes trying to see how long he could go without blowing his whistle when refereeing Premier League matches

The ex-official also revealed that he would try and stay in the centre circle for as long as he could during some games.

‘There used to be games we would have for a laugh,’ Dean said on Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party podcast. ‘It would kick-off, right; see how long we could go without blowing a whistle.

‘I done that a few times in the Premier League, before VAR, obviously. Went 20, 25 minutes without blowing the whistle.’

Dean continued: ‘I used to do another one in the Premier League, I used to stand in the centre circle and see how long I could stay in the centre circle before I had to leave. That was just me joking about. Got about 15 minutes once, in one game.’

Daily Mail Sport understands his comments have raised eyebrows within the refereeing community, with senior figures questioning the plausibility of his claim given the lack of detail.

According to senior officials, Dean provided no indication of when the alleged minigames took place. He also claimed they occurred before VAR was introduced for the 2019-20 season, meaning any such incidents would have taken place under previous refereeing chiefs – and current bosses are insistent that ‘integrity and impartiality’ are at the heart of referees’ decision-making.