Howard Webb has opted not to address the David Coote video scandal in full in his latest TV appearance.
The head of the PGMOL had been scheduled to appear on the latest instalment of Match Officials Mic’d Up (broadcast on Sky Sports and TNT Sports). Liverpool fans hoping to see the 53-year-old address the officiating elephant in the room in full, however, will have been left disappointed.
This follows a rather foul-mouthed tirade of abuse Coote privately aimed at Jurgen Klopp whilst the German was still managing the Reds.
The 42-year-old described the now Red Bull employee, several years ago, as a ‘German c**t’ and noted that ‘Liverpool were s**t’.
Far from the kind of language and views befitting of a Premier League official.
What did Howard Webb discuss?
The format of Mic’d Up sees the Premier League share private conversations between the on-pitch match official and his VAR team at Stockley Park. The goal of this being to make the officiating and decision-making process more transparent for football fans.
Webb then offers his professional opinion on these conversations from flashpoints across several Premier League fixtures.
Liverpool v Aston Villa
There was one particularly contentious decision that could have potentially cost Liverpool dearly in our encounter with Aston Villa at the weekend.
Mo Salah was through on goal for a one-v-one situation in the second half but found himself apparently illegally felled by Leon Bailey outside the 18-yard-box.
David Coote’s gesturing appeared to indicate he felt the incident wasn’t a foul nor worthy of further review.
Fortunately for us, the scoring was opened by Darwin Nunez who latched onto the loose ball, taking it past Emi Martinez, before firing into an open net.
Howard Webb had this to say when reviewing the moment in question: “We became aware of a video being circulated on social media that we are taking very seriously. We’ve instigated a full investigation.
“One of our referees, David Coote, has been suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of that investigation.
“There’s not much more I can say at this stage until we work through that investigation.”
