Under siege Mike Dean finds an unlikely defender in Gary Neville

Mike Dean is the talk of the town after his bizarre performance in Manchester United's win at West Ham on Monday.

The Wirral official sent off Hammers midfielder Sofiane Feghouli after just a quarter of an hour played for a foul on Phil Jones - a decision that many felt was far too harsh, and ensured Dean was in the crosshairs for fans and pundits alike. This opinion was fairly common on Twitter on Sunday night: https://twitter.com/AFCMemz/status/815974759389335552 But amidst all the abuse branding Dean arrogant and useless, he has found an unlikely defender. Gary Neville is famed for his forthright views as a pundit but early this morning he took to twitter to defend the under fire ref. https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/816158974831693824 https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/816159826866798592 One follower suggested Neville was applying double standards - but he disagreed. https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/816166530589347840 https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/816167381898788864 https://twitter.com/GNev2/status/816168282332000261 Whether Dean is finding any comfort in Neville's support (or maybe he isn't even on twitter so has no idea how much abuse he was getting in the first place) we just don't know. But we'll leave you with this clip of him dealing with the pre-match bubbles at West Ham, just for funsies. https://twitter.com/CelebrityRefs/status/815970855205400576