David Coote and football's referee reckoning

Premier League referee David Coote has been suspended over a leaked video that appears to show him making derogatory comments about Liverpool and the club's former manager Jurgen Klopp.

The refereeing body, Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), has suspended Coote with immediate effect while it investigates the matter.

However, the remarks are "also attracting the attention" of the Football Association (FA), said the BBC. One of the alleged comments made "cites Klopp's German nationality", which could constitute an "aggravated breach" of FA rules.

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This could be a "watershed moment" for the game, said Sky Sports, as football is forced to reckon with the private opinions and potential bias of officials.

'Bang to rights'

Coote has "made a massive fool of himself", said The Guardian's Paul MacInnes. To suggest it was "naive" for the referee to believe his remarks would be kept private "would be unfair to those who believe in the tooth fairy".

With language "that would make a fishmonger blush", Coote's "bleary-eyed after-party" rant has surely brought his career to an abrupt end, and given the strength of his feelings, "such an outcome wouldn't seem unfair".

Coote is "bang to rights" and "can never referee again", said former Liverpool striker John Aldridge in the Liverpool Echo – "if it all turns out to be true". While it is not clear if the outburst is "anything to do with his own personal allegiances", there are already "question marks" against some of his decision-making in Liverpool games. Such comments compromise his "authority and neutrality", and damage his reputation.

It is not only his name that Coote could have brought into disrepute. It has previously been "easy to dismiss cries of bias and imagined agendas as blinkered paranoia", said The Telegraph's Thom Gibbs. But this video encourages conspiracy theories against referees from embittered fans, and has "poured petrol onto a tinderbox and lit a boxful of matches, just to make sure".

The "lingering stench" of the referee who "blew the illusion of neutrality" will remain for some time to come.

'He had a point'

"Who among us has not said very bad words about someone at work?" asked The Guardian's Barney Ronay. While Coote and his companion's comments are "unacceptable, low rent, and ultimately harmful", we should not "overplay the offence". It is also important to "be careful" of the referee, as he is a "fragile, breakable human being like the rest of us" who is now experiencing a very difficult time.

But while the official "can be banished in a finger snap", it is more challenging to admit that "he had a point", said The Times' Martin Samuel. While Klopp established a positive reputation during his time at Liverpool, his behaviour on the touchline "wasn't all wit and repartee", and was "often very wrong". So, with his "guard down and unthinking about the ramifications", Coote seized an opportunity to say "what he really thinks" about the former manager. "Can you blame him?"

Across the Premier League, this must be a "significant, teachable moment". While Coote may never officiate again, his comments speak to the wider football culture where referees "feel unprotected, bullied and increasingly resentful". That, ultimately, "must end".