Former Premier League referee Coote gets 8-week ban for offensive comments about Klopp
Coote admitted to a Football Association charge of acting 'in an improper manner' and/or using 'abusive and/or insulting words' in a video recorded around July 2020.
Two videos, apparently filmed using a phone, circulated on social media appearing to show Coote giving his personal opinion on Liverpool and Klopp, its long-time former manager, when asked by an unidentified man.
Coote uses an expletive for Liverpool and a derogatory term for Klopp, saying he disliked the German manager because he was 'arrogant' and 'accused me of lying' after one game.
The FA charge including an allegation that Coote's actions constituted an 'aggravated breach' of rules because they 'included a reference — whether express or implied — to nationality.'
An independent regulatory commission announced on Tuesday it had imposed the new sanctions on Coote following a hearing.
Coote was initially suspended for his conduct and then fired in December because his position was deemed 'untenable' by English soccer's referees body following an investigation into his conduct.
Coote was also investigated by the FA following allegations in British newspaper The Sun that he discussed with a fan the possibility of giving a yellow card to a player in a match. The former referee denied any wrongdoing and the FA said in June that no charges were issued in relation to that investigation.
Separately, UEFA launched an investigation into Coote following a video, again published by The Sun, allegedly showing him using cocaine during the European Championship this year.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
a minute ago
- New York Times
Liverpool 2025-26 Premier League season preview: Can they dominate again?
The reigning Premier League champions are ready to retain their crown. Head coach Arne Slot's debut season could not have gone any better as Liverpool cruised to the title, and now expectations have risen. With big money spent to refresh a squad that is still being added to, they will hope to hold off the stronger challenges expected from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City. Advertisement It will be an emotional campaign following the death of Diogo Jota, with tributes continuing before the season opener against Bournemouth. The Athletic looked ahead to the upcoming campaign. Given the money spent this summer, the aim is for Liverpool to replicate their success in the Premier League last season and defend their title. Slot has consistently spoken about winning titles since he arrived last year, and he will maintain those standards, as will the experienced players in the squad including Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah. There may be some growing pains early on as the new signings bed in — there were four new starters in the Community Shield — and their business is not done yet. New weapons that the head coach spoke about at the end of the season have been added and there is trust that Slot will be able to integrate them quickly. The biggest focus for improvement will be progressing further in the Champions League. Liverpool dominated the group phase, finishing top, but were unfortunate to draw eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16. That tie came at a time when Liverpool were running out of steam, and the hope is the versatile squad that has been built will be in better condition at that stage of the campaign. It has been a different transfer window as a lot of new faces have arrived, and plenty of money has been spent. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili arrived a year after a deal was agreed with Valencia and he has been joined by full-backs Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz and striker Hugo Ekitike for a combined total of just under £300million. Experienced Freddie Woodman and youngster Armin Pesci have also strengthened the goalkeeper ranks. To offset the summer spend, Liverpool have also said goodbye to Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich) and Darwin Nunez (Al Hilal), while Caoimhin Kelleher (Brentford), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen) and Tyler Morton (Lyon) have also departed for healthy fees. They also banked £8.4m from the sale of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid a month before his contract officially expired. Have you heard of some fella called Alexander Isak? It's been a quiet summer for him to be fair… Liverpool remain interested in striking a deal for the Newcastle United forward, who The Athletic revealed has no intention of playing for them again. Yet there remains no resolution due to the hefty £150m valuation and Newcastle's struggles to recruit a striker themselves. Slot's side are also short at centre-back with only three senior players at his disposal. Talks have been held with Crystal Palace for captain Marc Guehi and 18-year-old Giovanni Leoni from Parma. Winning teams develop a winning formula and often stick to it to try and replicate success. While Liverpool's overarching principles will remain the same, Slot is eager to not stand still and we will see tweaks to the system he implemented so successfully last season. The summer signings emphasise that with two attacking full-backs, a creative No 10 in Wirtz and a No 9 whose skillset is a combination of what Diaz, Nunez and Jota provided in that role. Build-up play will be different and their attacking patterns will have more variety. New first-team coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be expected to bring fresh ideas after he replaced the popular John Heitinga, who became Ajax's head coach. Despite Liverpool's wealth of talent, 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha stole the headlines. The winger was a joy to watch, scoring three goals and providing two assists to accompany his direct dribbling and quick feet. His performances have elevated him into the first team picture and he is expected to get opportunities this season. Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo have looked sharp, while the four new outfield signings show glimpses of their quality. Slot's side were an attacking juggernaut last season scoring 86 goals during the Premier League campaign, 14 more than anybody else. This season they could be even better. The arrivals of Wirtz and Ekitike could raise Liverpool's attack further. If Salah can come close to replicating his form from last season, and with Wirtz pulling the strings from central areas, they could better their previous goal tally. Full-backs Kerkez and Frimpong are also both attack-minded and further dimensions and unpredictability to Liverpool's attack. Not a lot… but there are concerns about the balance of the side. Liverpool have been susceptible to the counter-attack throughout pre-season and kept only one clean sheet — in a friendly against Championship side Stoke City. The ease with which Crystal Palace played through the middle of Liverpool in the build-up to their two goals offered in the Community Shield was a final warning sign that they need to return to the compact structure that was pivotal to their title win last season. There is also a depth issue in attack and defence, but there is time to resolve that. Slot has been encouraged by his team's attacking threat and creativity during the pre-season, but he has pointed out that there are defensive improvements required. 'I think in the whole pre-season we saw that we are able to create more and we are more comfortable on the ball, we create more opportunities, chances, we dominate maybe even more,' he told reporters following the Crystal Palace defeat. 'But the other side is also true, that we have conceded four against Milan, one against the Japanese team (Yokohama F. Marinos), two against (Athletic Club) Bilbao and again two today.' Nothing is impossible in football. Therefore nothing can ever be 100 per cent, but Slot remaining in his role is about as close to it as you can get. He has so much credit in the bank that even if things do not go smoothly this season, Liverpool's trust will remain. So we'll say 99.999999999 per cent. Wirtz wins PFA Premier League Player of the Season. It would require a Liverpool title win, but Wirtz is an incredible talent and his qualities will be key to the attempts to retain the title. (4-2-3-1): Alisson Becker, Jeremie Frimpong, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez; Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister; Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo; Hugo Ekitike — GRAPHIC COMING Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Liverpool splash out to secure status as Premier League's top dogs
Fresh from storming to a record-equalling 19th English top-flight title, Liverpool have not held back in transforming Arne Slot's squad in pursuit of an era of Premier League dominance. On top of retaining veteran stars Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah to new contracts, the Reds have splashed out £260 million ($350 million) and are reportedly far from finished in the transfer market. Two of the Bundesliga's most promising talents Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike have arrived at Anfield to add extra creativity and goals. Jeremie Frimpong has also made the move from Germany with the daunting task of replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, while Milos Kerkez joined from Bournemouth as the long-term successor to Andy Robertson at left-back. More defensive reinforcements are imminent with the club closing in on deals for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi and 18-year-old Italian centre-back Giovanni Leoni from Parma. But it is the potential addition of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak for a British transfer record fee in excess of £115 million that is the transfer saga of the English summer. - Risky and rare strategy - Liverpool were among the lowest Premier League spenders last year as Slot oversaw a steady transition from Jurgen Klopp in spectacular style. A huge investment this time round is also possible because the Reds are among the slickest movers in the market when it comes to sales. The departures of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Jarell Quansah, Caoimhin Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold and Tyler Morton have raised around £200 million. Liverpool's bold strategy of tearing up a title-winning team is a risky and rare experiment. Only once, Manchester City in 2019, have the Premier League champions been the biggest spending English club in the market since 2007. After years of battling against the financial power of Abu Dhabi-backed City, Liverpool are now flexing their muscles thanks to years of commercial growth and prudent ownership. "It doesn't feel Liverpool-like to me," said former defender Jamie Carragher at the thought of a new £69 million striker Ekitike playing second fiddle to Isak. After decades in the doldrums prior to Klopp's arrival, Liverpool are aiming to bring back glory days the club has not since the 1980s. The last time Liverpool won back-to-back titles was in 1984 and doing so this season would come with the added bonus of overtaking Manchester United as English football's top dogs. To do so, Slot has recognised the need to strike the right balance that still harnesses the best from his side's extra firepower. A pre-season trend of high-scoring encounters continued in losing the Community Shield to Crystal Palace on penalties after twice blowing the lead. "Now we are better in creating and getting promising situations than we were, in my opinion, throughout the whole of last season," said Slot. "What made us really strong last season was we only won mostly by a margin of one goal and that had mostly to do with us keeping a clean sheet or as a maximum conceding one goal." Liverpool also have extra motivation to defend their title as they try to honour a lost friend and team-mate in Diogo Jota. The Portuguese international was killed aged just 28 alongside his brother after a car accident in northern Spain last month. Tributes to Jota will continue throughout the season with "Forever 20" -- his shirt number, which the club have now retired -- printed on Liverpool's jerseys. kca/nr
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rugby club 'delighted' after announcing new two-year kit deal
A rugby club in Carlisle has said that it is 'delighted' after announcing a new multi-year kit partnership with local car dealer. Creighton Rugby Club (RUFC) has announced that it has entered into a partnership with Wigton Road Car Sales. This partnership will see the club wear match kit, warm-up tops, and training gear bearing the Wigton Road Car Sales logo for the next two years, until 2027. (Image: Supplied) After the partnership was announced, Creighton RUFC chair John Rogers was on hand to express his delight. He said: "We are so grateful to Richard and his team for their support; we are an amateur sports club and all we want to do is provide the opportunity for men, women and children to join the rugby family. "But that comes at a cost and we rely to a great degree on partnerships like this."
