“David Coote has been suspended with immediate effect pending a full investigation,” said a statement from English football’s refereeing body. “PGMOL will not comment further until the process is completed.”
Little is known so far about the video, which appeared on
In the video, the man refers to an incident involving them in the 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Burnley in July 2020, after which Klopp criticized the referee for passing up “a lot of challenges”. The German had also faced Coote at the final whistle of this match. “He accused me of lying,” Coote seems to say, “and then he threw a straight punch at me. I have no interest in talking to someone who is fucking arrogant.”
In a second video, the individual said, “Just to be clear, that damn last video can’t go anywhere, seriously.”
There have been clashes between Klopp and Coote since then, most notably when the latter was a VAR official in the 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Arsenal in December 2024, a match in which Martin Odegaard avoided awarding a penalty for a handball on the area. . Coote was also in charge when Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield on Saturday.
