The investigation into suspended referee David Coote remains ongoing.
PGMOL (the body responsible for match refereeing in England) says it is launching claims against the 42-year-old, who allegedly called former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp a “German whore” and the Anfield club*. **’, ‘very seriously’.
The refereeing body is also investigating a video of a man believed to be Coote inhaling a white powder in a hotel room during last summer’s European Championship, at which he officiated.
A PGMOL spokesperson said: “We are following an internal process and taking the allegations regarding David Coote’s conduct very seriously as part of our ongoing full and thorough investigation.” While David remains suspended, his wellbeing remains important to us and he is aware of the support network available to him.’
Coote was removed from his duties in the Premier League and also from international and European competitions by UEFA, which is also investigating.
“The UEFA Referees Committee immediately suspended David Coote until further notice on 11 November when it became aware of his inappropriate behaviour,” a spokesperson said.
The investigation into suspended referee David Coote remains ongoing, the PGMOL said.
A shocking leaked video that went viral last week appeared to show Premier League official Coote calling Liverpool a “***” and Jurgen Klopp a “German bastard.”
A video also emerged of Coote allegedly inhaling white powder in a hotel room at Euro 2024.
In the first clip, the Nottinghamshire official claimed Klopp was “arrogant”. “Apart from having a straight pop at me when I was refereeing them against Burnley in the lockdown, he (Klopp) accused me of lying and gave me a straight pop,” Coote said.
‘I have no interest in talking to someone who is fucking arrogant. I try my best not to talk to him. ‘My God, German whore, fuck me.’
He also added: “Liverpool were shit.” (Klopp is a) bastard, absolute bastard.
‘(James) Milner is fine, I get on well with him. You can see me there with a ‘mask’ on.’
In a second video, the man added: “Just to be clear, that last video can’t go anywhere, seriously.”
The match the man allegedly Coote is referring to in the video was Liverpool’s controversial 1-1 draw with Burnley in 2020.
In the match, which saw Liverpool drop points for the first time at home that season, Andy Robertson was caught on camera angrily confronting Coote in an expletive-laden rant after he was not awarded a penalty.
“How is it that not being penalized is a shame?” the Scot was furious after the game. ‘How the hell is that not a penalty? You didn’t see anything.
Coote was suspended following the images, which appear to be from many years ago.
The PGMOL launched an investigation and provided an update on Coote on Wednesday.
Coote (pictured topless in a separate video) has also been accused of making derogatory comments about Everton Football Club and Liverpool defender Andy Robertson.
“You didn’t see anything during the whole game apart from booking them in the last minute. Fuck me. What’s the point of having you in the middle? What’s the point of having you? Fuck me. Honestly.’
Coote has been a Premier League referee since 2018 and had many clashes with Klopp, who left Anfield at the end of last season.
Midway through last season, during Arsenal’s clash with Liverpool in December, Klopp vented his fury at Coote and the rest of the referees after his team were denied a penalty despite Martin Odegaard appearing to handle the penalty. ball inside the 18-yard area.
Chris Kavanagh, who was the match referee, signaled for play to continue and play was not stopped by the referees for a VAR check, with Coote confident that the Norwegian only touched the ball in the act of falling, which did not It is considered punishable by the Premier League rules.
“Yes, I’ve seen it,” Klopp fumed after the match. “I’m pretty sure someone will come and explain to me why it wasn’t a handball, but I don’t know how. I’m not saying the referee can see it because I don’t know where he was at the time.”
Referring to Coote’s role in the incident, he added: “But how can a guy in an office see that and not come to the conclusion that maybe it’s worth the referee taking another look?”
Howard Webb, director of PGMOL, later admitted that Kavanagh and Coote made a mistake by not awarding a penalty to Liverpool during the 1-1 draw.
Things went from bad to worse for Coote last Wednesday when The Sun published an eight-second clip purportedly showing him using a rolled-up banknote to inhale a white powder in a hotel room during last summer’s European Championships.
Coote and former Liverpool boss Klopp had several falling outs over the years.
The match the man supposedly Coote is referring to in the video was Liverpool’s controversial 1-1 draw with Burnley in 2020, with Andy Robertson facing him at full-time.
That video is said to have been recorded on July 6, the day after the Euro 2024 quarter-final match between Portugal and France, in which Coote was a VAR support official and Michael Oliver was the referee.
It is also reported that it was filmed in a UEFA-funded hotel room. UEFA has banned him from refereeing European matches.
Finally, The Sun published messages, purportedly from an acquaintance of Coote, claiming the 42-year-old attempted to organize a “drug party” at a Travelodge when he “should have been concentrating” on City’s game against Spurs in October. 30.
Coote allegedly booked a hotel room at 7:38 p.m. and sent a reservation notification to another person at 8:04 p.m., just 11 minutes before kickoff.
The latest damning allegations claim Coote sent a message to a friend saying “hope you are getting ready (to meet)” – during half-time of City’s 2-1 defeat to Spurs.
A source told The Sun: “On the day of the match he was messaging me repeatedly and wanted a drug party after he was done with Spurs (where he was fourth official).
“He didn’t book the Travelodge until just before kick-off and then sent a notification 11 minutes after kick-off. It was crazy.
‘Moments before and after he sent me messages. When he sent me a message at halftime I thought it was very surreal.
Other claims published in The Sun said Coote also allegedly tried to organize a drugs party during Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham on October 30.
The referee would have sent messages minutes before the game and at half-time.
The Sun’s source questioned whether Coote (right) was really “focused” on the match.
“Surely he should have concentrated on the game, not organizing drug parties.”
The source claims they eventually walked out of the meeting with Coote and the official “went crazy”, even asking for £73.99 in compensation for the booking fee.
Another source told the outlet that Coote had called Liverpool left-back Robertson a ‘Scottish f****’.
“He said the worst place to referee was Goodison Park because of the young Scousers shouting, shouting, swearing at him and shouting every name under the sun before the games even started,” the source said.