Suspended English Football Association (FA) match referee David Coote (pictured) allegedly passed sporting information to a friend for betting purposes, an investigation by a British newspaper revealed this week.
Coote, 42, is accused of discussing a possible yellow card for a particular player in a 2019 English second-tier championship football match between Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion. He allegedly discussed the potential card in the context of wagering with a friend in text messages obtained by The Sun.
Coote was recently suspended by the FA over various other allegations, including a video of him snorting cocaine and another of a foul-mouthed rant against the former Liverpool FC boss, Jurgen Klopp.
The suspended referee denies the latest accusations amounted to corruption.
“I strongly refute these false and defamatory allegations,” he said in a statement reported by the BBC.
The Allegations
The latest round of bad news for Coote comes via leaked personal messages. According to the messages revealed by The Sun, Coote told a friend that he was to officiate the game between West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United in October 2019.
The person who passed the messages on told The Sun that he proposed if Coote could “book” (give a yellow card) to West Brom player Ezgjan Alioski. But he said he was joking. The messages then seem to say Coote took it seriously.
In the text thread, Coote first denies knowing what his friend is talking about. However, after the match, in which left-sided defender Alioski was indeed yellow-carded, Coote messaged again.
“What a day yesterday. I hope you backed as discussed,” he reportedly said.
The contact then told him that he hadn’t bet on the incident, but that a friend of his that he passed the info on to may have.
“Haha he will have to share with you then,” Coote reportedly texted.
The yellow card for Alioski was not considered a controversial decision at the time. Coote denies that any of the exchange was anything other than going along with a joke.
“Whatever issues I may have had in my personal life, they have never affected my decision-making on the field. I have always held the integrity of the game in the highest regard, refereeing matches impartially and to the best of my ability,” he said.
Recent Allegations
The news that he has been accused of corruption only deepens Cootes’ troubles in recent months. First, video surfaced on social media of him making a foul-mouthed tirade against the former Liverpool FC boss, Jurgen Klopp.
Coote insulted the manager’s German nationality, and also insulted “scousers,” a term for the regional population of the Liverpool area.
“I’ve got no interest in speaking to someone who’s f*****g arrogant. So I do my best not to speak to him … My God, German c**t, f**k me,” Coote said on camera.
Coote refereed seven games during which Klopp was managing Liverpool in his Premier League career. Days after the video emerged, he was suspended by the FA.
Then, shortly after that, unconfirmed videos emerged of someone resembling Coote snorting cocaine during the 2024 European Championships, in which he was employed as a video assistant referee.
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