Richard Keys backs suspended Premier League referee David Coote and reveals reason he should be allowed to return before calling for officials to be randomly drugs tested
- Coote has been suspended after a video emerged of him calling Klopp a ‘****’
- Keys has offered his support to Coote to return as a referee
- LISTEN NOW: It all starts!available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday
Richard Keys has come to the defense of suspended Premier League referee David Coote, with the broadcaster insisting he should be allowed to resume his career.
Coote has been suspended by refereeing body PGMOL, which launched an investigation after a video emerged of him calling manager Jurgen Klopp a ‘German ****’ and Liverpool a ‘****’.
Then on Wednesday, video emerged of a man believed to be Coote snorting a white powder in a hotel room while operating last summer’s Euros.
The eight-second clip, leaked and published by The Sun on Wednesday evening, reportedly shows the official using a rolled-up banknote to inhale the powder.
Keys, writing on his blogstressed the need for a ‘full and transparent investigation into what happened to Coote’.
Referee David Coote was suspended earlier this week after a video of him was leaked online
Coote was suspended for making disparaging comments about Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp
Presenter Richard Keys has insisted Coote should be allowed to return as a referee
The presenter drew comparisons with his own experience at Sky Sports after he and colleague Andy Gray left their roles when a series of sexist conversations were picked up and leaked in January 2011.
Keys suggested that Coote could not return to refereeing in the top flight after his comments about Liverpool, but should be able to officiate in the Football League.
‘It is clear that Coote cannot referee in the PL again, but to ruin his life because of this would be wrong. Right now he is in a very dark place. Check. I’ve been there,” Keys wrote.
‘I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t continue with his job in the EFL. I know I’ve argued that PL referees shouldn’t be demoted to the EFL if they’re in poor form, and I stand by that, but this is different.
“If we sincerely believe in ‘wellbeing and mental health’, we have no choice but to sanction Coote and then let him get on with his life. Anything else could lead to a devastating outcome. Check. I’ve almost been there.
‘All of the above, of course, depends on Coote’s problems not getting worse.’
Keys added that Coote’s videos should now lead to referees being randomly tested for drugs in the future.
The presenter has dismissed suggestions from some fans that Coote was biased against Liverpool, stating that some of the incidents he missed in their matches were ‘scandalous’ but because he is ‘not a very good referee’.
Coote officiated Liverpool’s controversial 1-1 draw against Burnley in 2020 as Andy Robertson (red shirt) continued to rage at the now-suspended Premier League referee
Keys – who was keen to ensure Coote was not dismissed as a referee entirely – cited the example of Bobby Madley, who was sacked as a referee in 2018 before being able to return as a referee two years later
He insisted that the fans’ anger was due to the referees’ body PGMOL ‘hiding behind a series of excuses’ rather than ‘admitting they were wrong’.
In backing Coote to return to refereeing, Keys cited the example of Bobby Madley, who was sacked in 2018 after sending a video of himself mocking a disabled person to a friend.
Madley had briefly moved to Norway after his dismissal, before returning to England in 2020.
He returned to refereeing matches in the EFL, taking charge of matches in the Championship, League One and Two.
Madley returned to refereeing in the Premier League in 2022 after being rewarded for his performances in the EFL.