The Football Association has launched its own investigation into the behaviour of the referee David Coote after remarks he made about Jürgen Klopp in a video that surfaced online this week.
Coote is the subject of an investigation by the referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Ltd after clips showed the 42-year-old calling the former Liverpool manager “arrogant” and a “German cunt”. Howard Webb, PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer, said the organisation was taking the incident “very seriously”. As a participant in football, Coote falls under the scope of the FA’s rules and the investigation is likely to concentrate on a potential breach of rule E3, which deals with behaviour that brings the game into disrepute.
Participants can then be charged with further, aggravated breaches of the rule if found to have used insulting words or behaviours relating to a number of personal characteristics, including an individual’s nationality.
An FA spokesperson said: “We are aware of the matter, and we are investigating it.”
In the clips posted online on Monday, Coote appears to be speaking with friends when asked about his experiences dealing with Klopp as a match official. Although the remarks were made in private – in a second video Coote said: “Just to be clear, that last video can’t go anywhere, seriously” – the FA has the ability to charge individuals if the material appears in public spaces.
During a disciplinary case involving Dele in 2020, an independent regulatory commission found the then Spurs player “could and should have appreciated that once material is distributed the author no longer has control of the onward distribution”.
On Tuesday evening Webb addressed the issue for the first time, saying PGMOL was taking the incident very seriously, but gave no update on when an investigation into Coote’s remarks would be completed.
Speaking on the TV show Match Officials Mic’d Up, Webb said: “We became aware of a video being circulated on social media that we are taking very seriously. We have instigated a full investigation, one of our referees David Coote has been suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of the investigation.” Webb said the ongoing investigation prevented him from making further comment.
The official has been on PGMOL’s select list of referees since 2018 and took charge of the Carabao Cup final in 2023. In the video, he references a Liverpool match against Burnley, believed to be in July 2020 as part of Project Restart. Klopp confronted Coote at the end of the game, which was played behind closed doors, arguing he had failed to award his team a penalty for a foul on Andy Robertson.
