The PGMOL have confirmed that they have terminated David Coote's employment with immediate effect after the disgraced referee allegedly made shocking remarks about former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in a leaked video.
The 42-year-old was provisionally suspended by the governing body last month after footage emerged of him appearing to call Klopp a "German c***" during a COVID-19 lockdown a few years ago.
Coote - who appeared alongside another individual in the video - supposedly claimed that the footage was not real at first, but the official is then said to have accepted that the clips were genuine, allegedly claiming that he could not recall the content of the conversation.
While the PGMOL investigated the authenticity of the Klopp video, more serious allegations were made against Coote, who was also suspended by UEFA after a video which appears to show him snorting a white powder was leaked online.
The referee was also accused of match-fixing by planning to dish out a yellow card before West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United's Championship match in October 2019, although he strongly refuted those allegations.
PGMOL: 'Coote's position became untenable'
© Imago
On Monday afternoon, the PGMOL announced on X - formerly known as Twitter - that they had finished their investigation into Coote's conduct, and the 42-year-old has been relieved of his duties after he was found in "serious breach" of his contract.
"Following the conclusion of a thorough investigation into David Coote's conduct, his employment with PGMOL has been terminated today with immediate effect," the PGMOL said.
"David Coote's actions were found to be in serious breach of the provisions of his employment contract, with his position deemed untenable.
"Supporting David Coote continues to be important to us and we remain committed to his welfare. David Coote has a right to appeal the decision to terminate his employment."
Coote sacking an inevitable end to a shocking saga
© Imago
While we may never know the circumstances of how the videos of Coote were leaked onto social media, it was clear that the referee's career in England was dead in the water once he accepted that the footage was not doctored.
Even if a hugely controversial call goes against your team, it is hard not to feel at least a sliver of sympathy for the officials, who have to put up with players and managers remonstrating in their faces almost every week while thousands of supporters vent their X-rated frustrations online.
It would naturally be difficult for a referee to think of a manager or player in a positive light immediately after being berated, but to express such views on video is nonsensical, and Coote's position was indeed untenable as the PGMOL said.
It is highly ironic that the 42-year-old's final game as the man in the middle was Liverpool's win over Aston Villa at Anfield, where he got on the bad side of the home crowd by not penalising Leon Bailey for an apparent last-man foul on Mohamed Salah.
Darwin Nunez scoring the opener on that day saved his bacon somewhat, but there was never going to be any way back from this astonishing scandal, one that put the already-unpopular PGMOL in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons again.
Ben Knapton
