England’s footballing highest authority the FA has opened investigation about comments of David Coote directed towards Jurgen Klopp where the Premier League referee, in a earlier video, allegedly called the former Liverpool manager “arrogant” and a “German cunt”.
This has made Coote a major figure of interest in England’s football justice and the case gradually gaining the momentum of one of UK’s public attention issues.
In the course of FA’s opened investigation, a new video published by the Sun Wednesday seeks to worsen Coote’s alleged verbal abuse scandal. In the Sun’s video, Coote is seen sniffing white powder but the content of the powder has not been verified or confirmed of any legal substance by UK’s legal entities.
At the moment, the Premier League, through its refereeing body, has said it is aware of footage allegedly showing David Coote sniffing the white powder.
As curiosity grows, the public is waiting on the FA and Premier League’s verification of what kind of a substance Coote was snorting, during European Championship game.
On Wednesday evening the Sun published a video that it said showed Coote sniffing white powder during the summer’s European Championship in Germany, where he was officiating.
PGMOL said it was “aware of the allegations” and was “taking them very seriously” in the latest controversy in relation to the Premier League referee. The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the footage, which is being investigated by PGMOL.
A PGMOL spokesperson told the Sun: “David Coote remains suspended pending a full investigation. David’s welfare continues to be of utmost importance to us and we are committed to providing him with the ongoing necessary support he needs through this period. We are not in a position to comment further at this stage.”
The Sun said the video was taken on 6 July, a day after the Euro 2024 quarter-final clash between Spain and hosts Germany, for which Coote was a supporting VAR official.
Coote became the subject of an investigation by PGMOL after clips showed the 42-year-old calling the former Liverpool manager “arrogant” and a “German cunt”.
He was suspended by the professional body pending a full investigation, and the FA subsequently said it was also investigating the matter. Uefa also suspended Coote “until further notice” when the first video emerged.
The FA has the power to investigate remarks made in a private context and it is understood part of its investigation will centre on whether remarks about Klopp’s nationality constitutes an aggravated breach of its misconduct rules.
Howard Webb, PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer, said on Tuesday that the organisation was taking the incident “very seriously”.
