Posted on Villa thread: I actually have mixed opinions on this. Obviously after something like this, at the very least, he should never be involved in a Liverpool game (or a direct rival) ever again. His bias is out in the open now and any game he officiated involving us (or a points rival) will now always be suspect. On the other hand, it would be naive to think any referee who has been around the block would not have some managers and teams they have a problem with and secretly dislike. This video was never meant to be shared. The biggest difference between David ****e and the other refs is that his beef is out in the open now. You expect them to be fair and unbiased on the field... But we all know they have secret biases. Impossible not to.
If it is genuine, you would have thought his best bet was to apologise and say that his beef was wirh Klopp and not the club, but he didn't let it influence him. Then PGMOL could give him a slap on the wrist, keep him away from our games for a while, and then move on. Like you say, all refs will have some feelings one way or another towards players, managers and Clubs. By denying it, he's made it an all-or-nothing case imo.
I've always said I think that Coote is just useless. He lets far too much go, and not only in our games - I've seen it in plenty of others too. He was an idiot to say what he did, but I doubt he's alone amongst PL refs in his hatred of Klopp, who gave them all earache constantly. To highlight just how incompetent Coote is, if he really had it in for us he had two clear opportunities to give pens against us in the Villa game but didn't. He's so useless he can't even get being biased right.
Nothing is impossible. Employ foreign referees instead? Less likely to have affiliation to an English club.
Basically if he is found to have genuinely said it then he should be sued into the stone age. He's corrupted the game and affected several years of results
I’ve long suspected Coote to either be dodgy or just incompetent, But I didn’t expect it to be both. His bias has always been clear in my opinion and he’s been involved in MULTIPLE awful decisions involving us. And I’m not talking about those contentious 50:50 decisions - I’m talking crystal clear, easy to make decisions. The PGMOL needs disbanding and replaced with a truly independent organisation to monitor referees
I think it's a premeditated video too, he had the picture of him and Milner ready to go. He never looks away from the camera but then does the picture. The picture isn't a screensaver or home screen, it's on his photo library.
I was going to say it would be awkward if they don't speak English - but then half of the players don't anyway so probably doesn't matter. They'd still develop their own biases over a period though. Personally, I don't believe the overall standard of reffing is any better anywhere else - it's as hit and miss as it is here.
