David Coote, a well-known Premier League referee, has been suspended following the emergence of a video where he is seen making derogatory remarks about Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool. The video, which surfaced on social media platforms on Monday, shows Coote referring to Klopp as an "arrogant German" and labeling Liverpool as "poor performers."
The footage appears to have been recorded during the 2020-21 season. In it, Coote is asked by a friend for his opinion of Klopp who was then managing Liverpool. The negative comment about Liverpool seems to refer to their performance in a game that took place earlier that day.
PGMOL launches investigation
Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) has taken swift action against this incident. They announced: “David Coote has been suspended with immediate effect pending a full investigation." However, they refrained from making any further comments until the completion of the investigation process.
In addition to his derogatory remarks about Klopp and Liverpool, there are implications that Coote and his friend were breaching Covid regulations by sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder during their conversation. This sarcastic remark made by them adds another layer of controversy to this incident.
David Coote, Premier League referee, said:
“Long story short: Jürgen Klopp’s a cunt, Liverpool are all fucking bellends and we hate scousers. Aside from having a right pop at me when I reffed them against Burnley in lockdown, then he accused me of lying and then just had a right fucking pop at me. I’ve got no interest in speaking to someone who’s fucking arrogant. So I do my best not to speak to him … My God, German cunt, fuck me.”
In an interesting twist, another video features Coote requesting viewers not share the original recording: “Just to be clear, that last video can’t go anywhere seriously,” he says. His friend echoes this sentiment saying: “He’s a Premier League referee; let’s not ruin a bloke’s career.”
Despite these pleas for discretion from both parties involved in creating these videos - they have since gone viral causing significant damage to David's reputation.
Previous controversies
This is not the first time Coote has been embroiled in controversy. He was the video assistant referee during a game where a challenge by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford on Virgil van Dijk left the Liverpool defender with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but went unpunished. Coote also faced criticism from Klopp as the VAR for a 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Arsenal last December after an apparent handball in the box by Martin Ødegaard did not lead to a penalty. Howard Webb, PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer, later said it should have resulted in a spot-kick.
Liverpool has chosen to remain silent on this issue while an investigation is underway. According to Transfermarkt, Coote has refereed eight games involving Liverpool - seven of which were under Klopp's management. The results of these games include five wins, one draw and two losses for Liverpool.
Despite previous controversies involving Coote's decisions during matches that affected their performance negatively - Klopp refrained from criticizing him directly or questioning his refereeing skills after any game. This incident serves as another reminder about maintaining professionalism both on and off-field within sports communities. It remains to be seen what impact this will have on David Coote's career as well as how it might influence future interactions between referees and teams within Premier League football.
