David Coote is the centre of the footballing world in the UK after a video leaked online, and now Gary Neville has offered his take – and Liverpool fans won’t be surprised at what he had to say.
It has not been the quiet start to the international break that we all expected, with Coote suspended and under investigation for calling Jurgen Klopp a “c***” and Liverpool “s***.”
The PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer Howard Webb says his organisation are “taking [it] very seriously,” and further comment won’t be made until the investigation is complete.
There have been countless opinions since the video emerged and Neville was unusually quiet – as he typically has a lot to say – until now.
Speaking on The Overlap US, the Sky Sports pundit said: “I feel like if we look at the words that David Coote has said, obviously it’s going to bring him great disappointment and I think will bring great disappointment to the refereeing community.
“He’s called Jurgen Klopp the c-word, which is obviously a very aggressive word, but I didn’t see anything within his words that told me he had influenced decisions in the wrong way or looking to do Liverpool over.
“It was very sloppy and was something he, obviously, should have never done. It’s something that I’m sure he will regret not just today but for the rest of his life.
“The minute you cancel him as a Premier League referee, you’re effectively cancelling him from the game because I’m not sure any other organisation is then going to look at him and say, ‘Come work for us, mate’.”
He continued by saying: “I actually think the worst words in the video were said by the guy sat next to him when he said, ‘I hate Scousers’.
“That demonstrates a hatred towards a group of people, of which obviously Liverpool and Everton [are part of], but David Coote never said those words himself.
“He’s been stitched up, it’s been very sloppy. It’s a mess.”
Neville spoke of how it “might be difficult to referee Liverpool again” (an understatement) and said it would be a “good step” for him to be taken out of consideration.
But the former Man United defender “thinks he shouldn’t lose his career,” adding: “I don’t believe David Coote is anti-Liverpool in games. I don’t believe he gives bad decisions because he wants to.
“I never even believed that during my football career at United. I could give you the names of three referees that I didn’t like, that I thought were against us during my career.
“But I don’t believe they for one minute were frauds or corrupt. I just thought I didn’t get on with them, and they didn’t get on with me.
“I feel that players and managers know that.”
At the end of the day, it is a show of substantial bias, and Coote has not kept his personal feelings away from his job. How can he recover from that?
