Embattled former Premier League referee, David Coote has been charged by the England FA for misconduct over his derogatory comment about former Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool football club.
“David Coote has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to comments that he made about Jurgen Klopp in a video recorded around July 2020 which appeared on social media in November 2024, ” a statement on Tuesday by the FA partly read.
Mr Coote, 42, was heard in the video using derogatory terms on English football club Liverpool and its then coach, Klopp.
He was subsequently sacked by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, PGMOL after an investigation was carried out on his conduct in the video.
The former referee who was allegedly reacting to officiating as a fourth official in a Liverpool match, called the club ‘shit.’ Going on to refer to the club’s then manager, Klopp, a German national, ‘German cunt.’
According to Goal.com, Coote subsequently came out as gay and opined to turning to cocaine as an escape route to dealing with his sexuality as an elite referee.
He claimed he was not sober when he made those derogatory statements about Klopp. He added that he had since managed to kick his drug habit.
Although the video was believed to have been recorded in 2020 before emerging online last year, the English FA has now gone ahead to charge Coote with gross misconduct, accusing him of breaching FA Rules E3.1 and E3.2 which frowns upon the use of insulting words and rude references to anyone’s nationality, whether expressed or implied.
