David Coote ‘can never referee again’ as Liverpool bias is exposed

Initial defences of David Coote are disappearing as Liverpool fans take over the Mailbox and declare him a witch that must be burned.

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Coote factually correct

Taking Coote literally he is right. Klopp is German. Klopp is a c@nt. Ergo, Klopp is a German C@nt. There was no indication he suggested Klopp was one because he was German, and no suggestion Germans might be described in the same terms because of Klopp.

Klopp is, quite literally, as described

Hope this clears up any ambiguity.

Alex

Defending Coote? Really?

The David Coote thing is heating up with all kinds of terrible takes, isn’t it?

Yes, I know I know, lucky LiVARpool complaining about refereeing decisions but man, bending over backwards to defend a guy who got caught on camera expressing his bias should be a non-starter. The litmus test on this is if David Cootes got caught saying the same thing about any team in the league his position is untenable and that is even before you then look at the blatant decisions he was involved in that now show that bias? There is no defense.

So Coote has to go, but this outlines a different even bigger problem: Why is it that it took a video of Coote actually attacking Liverpool for the PGMOL to act? Why is there not any accountability in the here and now over decisions and why is there no lasting institutional memory over officials who seem to keep making ‘mistakes’ with the same teams.

Put aside ‘judgement calls’ and officials allowing more physicality and focus on clear mistakes and the patterns that suggest bias. For Coote it’s pretty clear, from the VVD injury, the Mane phantom offside, the Odegaard handball and the “no foul” for hacking down Salah on a clear path to the goal. The only follow up for any of those mistakes was being taken off VAR for a follow-up Liverpool match after the VVD injury.

Mistakes happen, but the PGMOL should have a record of these mistakes and pick out these patterns long before a guy goes out on video and incriminates himself. And at the core since an official’s primary function is to enforce the rules with impartiality, then an official who fails to show that impartiality shouldn’t just be banned from officiating a certain team’s matches or sent down the League chain, they should be gone.

For what it’s worth, I think most officials aren’t bias. The game is so fast and so intense that it’s almost unreasonable to expect an official to be perfect. The league and the PGMOL need to address that with a better use of technology and support. They need to protect their officials from abuse from club staff and supporters (and yes, that includes Klopp who went overboard multiple times and probably should’ve been punished more for it) and have a zero tolerance for a lot of the crap that goes on during a game. If a Referee is genuinely not good enough then they need to figure out if they can improve them or assign them to a level that is more fit for their skills.

But yes, lets stop with the defense of David Coote. He’s a poor official that allowed his personal bias to impact his application of the rules and every football supporter should welcome the end of his top flight career.

Mark (LFC, but more importantly a football supporter)

MORE DAVID COOTE COVERAGE ON F365…

👉 Top ten football swears features Didier Drogba, Mary Earps and new entry David Coote

👉 PGMOL already punished Coote for Liverpool, Klopp rant but ‘use of German’ could lead to ‘stiffer sanction’

👉 David Coote: Ex-PL referee gives PGMOL suspension verdict after Liverpool ‘sh*t’, Klopp ‘c**t’ video

…So I read lots of response from people who say “so Coote doesn’t like klopp/Liverpool why does that matter?”

Well it clearly does matter since referees aren’t allowed to ref games which feature their favourite team, because they might bias the outcome. So explain why they should be allowed ref a game featuring a team they don’t like and explain how that would be different to the above?

Imagine the uproar if Coote had been videoed saying how much he loves Liverpool and Llopp was his favourite manager. Would literally any fan want that guy reffing a Liverpool match featuring their team? If you say yes you’re definitely lying.

For a different spin – imagine it’s a World Cup final and England are in it and a video is unearthed of the referee saying how he thinks Bukayo Saka is a c*** and he thinks the English are c***s. Would he be suitable ref for that final?

Lee

…Yesterday I had a mail published where I felt I had cut Mr Coote some slack. I said his dishonesty about the video was far more damning than the perceived bias, Both this and the actual video showed either an awful lack of judgement and/or serious arrogance. I also mentioned that his VAR decisions were now suspect. I then had to (I didn’t HAVE to) read all the usual idiots and trolls in the comments section who have completely misjudged the possible implications and instead preferred to go along the lines of “Klopp deserved it, he’s a bully who spent years abusing officials”.

I also said that he had put the PGMOL is a very tricky situation from which they would be unable to make a decision which was satisfactory to all. Not those exact words but something similar.

Where is Rafa when he’s needed? The case against Coote has gathered momentum and the conspiracy theorists are armed with more detail, questions are being raised that now brings the PGMOL into the equation.

For those who don’t know, Coote was recorded on the same day he had been the fourth official at the Aston Villa game. Liverpool lost 7-2 and he was spot on when he was asked what he thought about them, they were shit! This wasn’t a slight at the City or it’s inhabitants, merely a comment on their performance earlier in the day. There is now a rumour that the PGMOL were made aware of the video around the same time. How else can it be explained that nearly 4 years passed before Coote was appointed to another Liverpool game? Yes in the same time he has only refereed 6 Man City games but he has not refereed any other Premier League team on less occasions, odd.

The PGMOL consistently, not a word usually associated with them, defend referees with “it’s a difficult job, it’s split second decisions, they’re only human they will make mistakes” and I don’t disagree with this one bit.

It is the primary reason for the introduction of the VAR, a position where a “qualified” official has the resources to review decisions from various angles, use slow motion replays, ask to see things again before coming to a conclusion, it is not unreasonable then to expect them to make less mistakes. The VAR has a greater ability to affect the game by assisting the referee to award a correct decision or allowing an incorrect decision to stand (Mike Dean was the best at this).

Is it therefore ANOTHER co-incidence that Coote has been the VAR for more Liverpool games than anybody else?

There will no doubt be instances in these games where Liverpool have had the VAR rule in their favour, I suspect that probably in quite clear and irrefutable cases. His two glaring errors are that he “forgot” he was able to review the Pickford/VVD incident, I think on the explanation that “an offside had been flagged and anything after that is irrelevant”, which frankly is ludicrous, his second is the Odegaard handball which even his management accepted was an error (despite the slow mo, the miked up ref who may or may not have thought Odegaard had put his arm out to break a fall, he didn’t fall!), what other rules has Coote “forgot” or when else has he failed to discuss the on field decision to verify it’s justification?

The case is becoming more compelling that whilst Coote may not have an issue with LFC or with the City itself, he does/did have one with Jurgen Klopp and his “qualified” judgement was impacted upon by this. I said yesterday that he wasn’t in a position to ask his employer to minimise his direct contact with the object of his disdain but maybe I was wrong and he was indeed protected by the PGMOL.

To add fuel to the fire, Coote was only ever appointed one more time as the fourth official for a Liverpool game, the F.A. Cup final of 2022, at Wembley where he would be as far away as is possible from Klopp when acting in this capacity.

Let me make myself clear, I would take this stance even if it was another club involved, the bigger issue is the game and the PGMOL’s integrity, it’s just because I support LFC that I can point to specific examples.

Howard (haters will hate, I feel sorry for them) Jones

If you’re filmed, it’s not private

I’m sure you’ll get a lot of these, but to answer Matt Pitt’s question: “Yes, you have missed something”.

The conversation he had may have been private, but now it is public. Telling one of your friends your opinion is one thing. Letting yourself be filmed and that video ending up online in another.

A civil servant can tell a friend that he thinks the Prime Minister is a moron. No problem. If a video of that is made public, it’s a problem.

A judge may hate a particular KC. If that goes public, it’s a problem.

If a head teacher badmouths a teacher or parent to their friend. No problem. If a video goes online. Big problem.

Politics especially is absolutely full of instances where a private conversation becomes public and causes huge problems. All the above opinions, put into question the employee’s ability to do their job objectively. Same with a referee. If you’re filmed and it goes online, it’s not a private conversation.

Mike, LFC, Dubai

Drunk man makes silly mistake?

I reckon the most likely option here is that a bloke got hammered on a Saturday night and had a crack with his mates on WhatsApp (or however the yooof are communicating these days)

And as I told my son before he went off to Uni… Once its been pictured/videoed, there is no taking it back. so don’t do anything on camera you don’t want the world to see !

Think he’s made a (massive) mistake and I don’t think the there is any way he can ref again sadly (for him) but I don’t think it was serious, necessarily.

The pic of Milner on his phone was ready to go and pre planned surely.. not a spur of the moment thing.

Al – LFC – Not losing my mind over it

…Liverpool fan here – and I really don’t care about Coote’s comments on Klopp.

Firstly, he has every right to dislike the people he comes into contact with at work – I doubt there are many people who don’t fall into that category.

Secondly, any professional (in any walk of life) should be able to put aside personal views and do their job to the best of their ability irrespective of any personal view of the people they work with – and I can see no evidence that Coote hasn’t done that – and it seems unlikely that he’s going to run into Klopp at a Liverpool game again!

Sure, there was a foul on Salah in the Villa game just before our 1st goal, but then he clearly didn’t deny a clear goalscoring opportunity (since hell froze over and Nunez actually scored). He also denied 2x Villa penalty claims (one correctly, one was debatable IMO).

I’d question his intelligence in allowing himself to be filmed making those comments given what he does for a living though. At worst he should not referee Liverpool games (I don’t actually care whether that happens, I just can’t be arsed with the inevitable claims of bias when he doesn’t give a 50/50 foul/penalty/throw-in to Liverpool, or does give one to the opponent).

Andy

Coote v Gillett

Interesting that now David Coote has been outed for despising Klopp that he’s suspended and could potentially be fired. What’s the difference between this and Jarred Gillett supporting Liverpool?

Gillett isn’t allowed to referee or act as VAR for Liverpool games but is allowed to oversee their rivals. If the PGMOL trusts Gillett to referee their rivals objectively, why can’t Coote be expected to do the same with Liverpool? It also begs the question why the PGMOL doesn’t believe Gillett should referee Liverpool games if he’s supposed to be an unbiased professional?

Unfortunately, the top level of professional football is so big and so money-driven in this day and age that it creates emotions and an atmosphere that everyone is going to have an opinion on someone and it’s very likely to be unfavourable so I don’t believe any referee can be fully impartial.

So where do we go from here? Do referees at the start of the season have to admit who they don’t like? Who they are planning to work for in their free time? Or do we go down the route of a revolving door of European refs that only get 1 or 2 fixtures a season as to never have too much exposure to teams and their staff?

Thanks,

Stew

Some sympathy for Coote

Well, David Coote. There is a lot to be said and a lot has been said but we need to stop and think about the man himself. Right now I’d imagine he is going through a lot of mental anguish, self recrimination and probably hiding indoors with the curtains drawn.

This is a guy that has worked his socks off to get where he is today. You do not just walk off the street into this job. There are hard yards that have to be put in at varying levels of the game, constant assessments, fitness to be maintained and a lot of study and overall work to be in a position where you can officiate at the highest levels of the game. And over those years he has been subjected to levels of abuse, accusations and toxicity that in any other job would have the offender(s) marched down to HR for a proper kick in the arse. Not Football though, where that behaviour is normalised and he is expected to keep his mouth shut and soak it up.

The fact that he has gone and effectively done himself out of the job he has worked very hard to achieve is probably one of the more painful aspects of whatever self reflection he is subjecting himself to at the moment. Every decision he has made, particularly those against Liverpool are being dragged out and fueling enough conspiracy theories to keep the clicks rolling for a lot of highly opinionated commentators. His stupidity is being monetised.

There is no dressing this up. It was an appalling lack of judgement to make those comments in front of someone recording it on their phone. Idiotic.

However, the worst aspect of his judgement was to trust the person making the recording. It is undoubtedly causing him severe mental anguish at the moment and will probably cost him a job he has worked very hard to earn.

Someone has gone and stabbed him in the back with that recording.

The man has done himself enough damage without you allowing yourself to add to it.

There will be consequences but for f***’s sake, don’t be the blade of that knife.

E (Ireland), LFC

MORE DAVID COOTE COVERAGE ON F365…

👉 Top ten football swears features Didier Drogba, Mary Earps and new entry David Coote

👉 PGMOL already punished Coote for Liverpool, Klopp rant but ‘use of German’ could lead to ‘stiffer sanction’

👉 David Coote: Ex-PL referee gives PGMOL suspension verdict after Liverpool ‘sh*t’, Klopp ‘c**t’ video

..Let’s get something straight shall we? Referees are biased, absolutely all of them, there isn’t a single human in the world who is not influenced by those around them and that cannot be understated, and so every single referee is trapped in a sea of micro-interactions they have to overcome to do their job properly.

From big things like “I can’t stand refereeing there, they are a noisy lot and the manager is ALWAYS on my case” to little things like “urgh, that town is a dive – hate this shift here on a Wednesday night”, referees’ jobs are not to be completely impartial, they are to be above their bias. To be able to say “yes, this lot DO do my head in, but that definitely was a penalty” and “god I hate coming to this town but in this instance that handball was clear as day” (looking at you Stuart Morland – York Road isn’t pretty, but we deserved three points when Woking came to town last year, it was stonewall).

This is why, in my very short youth coaching career, every game would start with me telling the lads to do their drills, stay focused and be polite to the referee while showing you’ve listened, because you never know how little an interaction will subconsciously sway a referee on a marginal call.

That said, those biases, no matter how big or small, simply have to be professional. They have to be quiet, near imperceptible – because the rules are already so scrutinised at every level, so fragile, that the minute the referee, the game’s arbiter, shows a moment of weakness. We may as well all go home.

I feel for David Coote, I do, I’ve heard the video (as yet, I have not seen and I’ll be open to my opinion change on seeing it) and I can hear his tone – he feels safe, he feels comfortable enough to say what he’s said but then concerned enough to say the video needs to not be shared. This is a man who knows he’s overstepped, but he’s done so in an environment he felt able to do so.

He does sadly however say things which, well, most individuals working in a public environment would get sacked if it came out and regardless of bias, his use of nationality as well as insult creates a difficulty for both his employers and his industry going forward. Fast forward next year, Daniel Farke, Leeds’ German manager gets a yellow card from Coote for very little, the headline literally writes itself. (For Farke’s Sake – you’re welcome)

This isn’t about Klopp, this isn’t even about referees really if you take it to its core point, this is ultimately about a man who now has to face investigation for making a mistake that has implications for his employers. Simple really.

Phill Cooper

Conspiracy corner

I 100% agree with Lee from the earlier edition about some refs showing obvious bias for or against certain clubs. I constantly have to suffer Michael Oliver and his clear i$$ue with Arsenal. I watch plenty of football and this isn’t something jI’ve just pulled out of my a**e – it’s a consistent theme with his decisions across many, many matches.

Of course, if you pointed out that a referee might not be an absolute paragon of neutrality before yesterday you were deemed a conspiracy theorist.

To quote Franck Lepage: “there are 2 mistakes about conspiracy theories – the first is to see them everywhere, and the second is to see them nowhere.”

Dan, London

The swears

How on earth can you not include Jill Scott in this article?

Sara (I remember that Neil Warnock documentary – the man is an absolutely hero and should never have been let go the second time round) HTFC

What’s going wrong at Man City

Someone mentioned that there hadn’t been any City fans talking about their run of defeats so I thought I’d give my opinions on it.

I think there has been a number of factors coalescing to cause these defeats. The small squad that Pep likes to keep, has been significantly impacted by the number of injuries, which as Newcastle and Man United fans know from last season, ends up with the fit players playing too much, leading to fatigue, poor performances or injuries and injured players coming back too soon (hello Kyle Walker) and not performing or getting re-injured. Plus City have lost Oscar Bobb, who was in brilliant form pre-season, and lost the best player in the world in Rodri, both for the season.

Then we have the squad make up. I think City are going to buy big in the summer in midfield (115 etc etc not withstanding), as KDB and Gundogan’s contracts end and Bernardo has been ready for a move to somewhere nearer Portugal for a while, so could go now there is a release clause in his new contract. City have tried to plan for this rebuild and I’d argue this is why City only made one First Team signing in Savinho (Gundo was on a free) to keep the cash free.

But as a result, we have a midfield that is mostly made up of 30-year-old players KDB – 33, Gundo – 34, Bernardo – 30, Kovacic – 30. City try not to pay too much (stop laughing) with the exception of Grealish and Gvardiol, but I really think they should have bought one brilliant younger player for £85M rather than getting Kovacic and Nunes for a combined £78M. Preferably one who can play 6 and 8 so City had cover for Rodri.

Then we have performances. With Rodri injured and Foden missing at the start of the season City have been reliant on the older players, who are better at control and passing with the ball, but without the legs and the intensity for 90 minutes to win it back. There is a clear pattern of City doing well in the first half, but when the opposition step it up second half, City can’t live with the teams that play with intensity.

Foden has had a weird season and still doesn’t look like himself. He seems to be overly relying on his exceptional long-range shooting. So rather than linking play and doing normal Foden things, he just seems to be laying the ball off and waiting for the return so he can shoot. He used to be able to play across the front three and was great everywhere. Now he seems to be limited to being a one (very good) trick pony. Gundo has also showed why we originally only offered him a one-year deal before he left, as this second year looks a year too much for him.

There is lots of talk about the defence conceding too many goals, but I think the bigger issue is the lack of goals. City have missed a lot of chances to kill teams off in the first halves of these four games. Where once City had Sane and Sterling getting double figures from wide positions we now have Doku and Savinho threatening, but rarely scoring. Similarly, in midfield we used to have KDB and Gundo scoring double figures, but they aren’t this season due to injuries and form. After Haaland on 12 the next PL highest scorers for City are Gvardiol -3, Kovacic – 3 and Stones -2. That isn’t great.

I’m unsure what will happen next. One of Pep’s best qualities is his troubleshooting and problem fixing, which allows City to play with square pegs in round holes and still play well and win the PL. But whether he can still do that with Rodri missing for the season and with all the injuries, fatigue and an aging midfield is another matter. Maybe the international break will give enough time for the players to have a break and reset. Maybe Pep has one more trick up his sleeve. Maybe City will bring forward a summer signing or two into January. Lots of unknowns here, but I can’t see City getting 90 points again. It’s game on for Liverpool and Arsenal now. Here’s the big chance you’ve wanted.

If City don’t win the league this season, the silver lining is I reckon Pep is more likely to extend his contract. I can’t see him wanting to end his City stay with a whimper.

Andy D. Manchester. MCFC

Signal Stewie

Just a little favour to ask – can you keep headlining any mails from Stewie G so we all know to skip the nonsensical attention-seeking trolling? Very convenient for us all 🙂

Andrew M, AFC, Australia

F365 getting shut down by Mark

After several warnings, you continue to spout your daily dose of drivel. I’ve had enough. I am now contacting my friends in very very high places, and will attempt to shut your website down. Be very afraid. I’m coming to get you.

All the best.

Mark