Gary Neville has spoken publicly for the first time about inflammatory comments regarding Jurgen Klopp attributed to David Coote.
On Monday, a video was made public which appears to show the Premier League referee using crude language to describe the former Liverpool manager, with the official since suspended by the PGMOL and no longer under consideration for matches by UEFA.
Speaking on The Overlap US, the Sky Sports pundit acknowledged that the 42-year-old ‘stepped over the line’ with one specific word that he used about the German, but he feels that the ref isn’t inherently biased against the Merseyside club, nor has he set out to deliberately have a negative impact on their on-field results.
Neville speaks out on Coote tirade
Neville said of Coote: “He’s called Jurgen Klopp the C-word, which is obviously an aggressive word, but I didn’t see anything within his words that he had influenced Liverpool in the wrong way or was trying to do Liverpool over.
“There’s a line, and he’s stepped over the line. Referees are held to a high bar and he’s got to stop refereeing in the Premier League. However, I don’t feel comfortable with [Coote losing his livelihood]. I don’t believe David Coote is anti-Liverpool.
“I could give you the name of three referees I didn’t like, that I thought were against us during my career, but I never thought they were corrupt…I just thought they didn’t get on with me. I feel players know that. The worst words in the video were said by the guy next to him.”
Coote has had a few run-ins with Liverpool
Looking back at the video footage, Coote didn’t explictly voice any hatred for Liverpool as a club (he used a four-letter synonym for excrement to describe one on-field performance), but he unquestionably mouthed an especially crude term several times in referring to Klopp personally.
As Neville pointed out, it was the individual recording the video (who’s since been identified as ex-Nottinghamshire cricketer Ben Kitt) who actually stooped to using derogatory language to describe Liverpudlians in general.
Although the referee has developed a reputation for inconveniencing the Reds with a few calls during his career either on the pitch or in the VAR booth, we’d like to think that he didn’t go into any matches involving LFC with the intention of hindering their chances of victory through decisions with which he was tasked.
Alas, it seems impossible for Coote to ever again be entrused with any match directly or indirectly impacting Liverpool, and at the moment it’s plausible that his career in the Premier League could be over.
Neville has duly spoken, with Jamie Carragher’s verdict on the matter due to be publicised on Thursday.
