David Coote has opened up a can of worms that will not be easily contained after his anti-Liverpool video surfaced, with the show of bias something he cannot come back from.
The quiet hum of the start of another international week was rocked when Coote’s video quickly went viral across social media, calling Liverpool “sh**” and Jurgen Klopp a “c***.”
Within a couple of hours, he had been suspended and a full investigation launched, and with it a wave of reactions from both sides of the fence.
Quickly dismissed as a deepfake or artificial intelligence, these were Coote’s unfiltered thoughts filmed by someone who evidently did not have his best interests in mind.
As a Liverpool fan, it would not have shocked you. It will have likely been validation for the times we have crossed paths and his bias has come into question.
It may have been murky or some could have pointed to the fact he just was not competent to officiate games at the highest level, but he now has nowhere to hide and no defence.
He is not the first person, nor will he be the last, to throw such distasteful words at someone they cross paths with at work in their free time. But this is not just anyone.
This is an official at the highest level who can have a direct influence in matches, and he has shown substantial bias against Liverpool, and the tinge of xenophobia is unforgivable.
The video appears to have been filmed in 2020, and since then he has overseen 16 games involving the Reds as either referee or as the lead VAR.
In that time we have had the Virgil van Dijk incident at Goodison Park, Martin Odegaard’s blatant handball overlooked, and the dumbfounding decision not to show a red card for an offence on Mo Salah just last week.
Two of those matches finished as a draw with the Reds denied seeing a red card and a penalty awarded – two decisions that played a role in the final result.
They were significant calls at the time but in light of Coote’s comments, it puts everything he touched under the microscope, even if there were some decisions thrown in there that did favour Liverpool.
He is tainted.
When we dug a little deeper, we found that during games Klopp oversaw since 2018 – when Coote was first appointed as a Premier League referee – Liverpool won 52.9 percent with Coote and 65.5 percent without him. That is a drop to the win rate of 12.6 percent.
Dislike Klopp all you want, Coote won’t be the only one that feels the way he does as the Liverpool boss wasn’t always in a jolly mood, but he was seemingly – so far at least – the only one brainless enough to be videoed airing those feelings.
Bias – unconscious or conscious – is rife across society. It is a human condition, but there is no way you can have a subjective view if you harbour such thoughts that you are prepared to vocalise them to god knows who.
Coote has not been professional in keeping his personal feelings away from his job, and who is to say he is alone?
Few could complain if the 42-year-old has officiated his last game as he can no longer oversee Liverpool, nor could he work on games involving Man City or Arsenal, for example.
But the title or any other standing is not just decided there, it is across a 38-game campaign that has little margin for error and his admitted bias, surely, leaves the PGMOL no other choice.
With this video, Coote has cracked the fundamental principles that referees align themselves with and constantly look to push back on, and that is allegations of bias and a conflict of interest.
We are consistently told that there are no hidden agendas, and any attempts to question decisions are met with silence as the boys’ club closes ranks and protects their own.
It is not an easy job, I’ve had experience with it albeit in a different sport, but if we cannot trust the referees to do their job objectively, what are we left with?
The PGMOL’s starting point is clear, but can we trust they will get it right?
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