David Coote has tried to be someone he's not - but I remain certain referees are not corrupt

Former Premier League referee Peter Walton has spoken of his shock at David Coote's controversial video and claimed it was out of character for his old colleague. Coote has been suspended by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited after video footage emerged that appears to show him branding Liverpool 's***' and Jurgen Klopp a 'German c***'.

Coote took charge of Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday. A statement from the PGMOL read: “David Coote has been suspended with immediate effect pending a full investigation. PGMOL will be making no further comment until that process is complete.”

Klopp left Liverpool in the summer after almost a decade in charge, and Walton, who retired from refereeing back in 2012, has described his former colleague as 'captain sensible' and believes the video showed Coote 'trying to be someone he's not'.

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He wrote in The Times: “The PGMOL has done the right thing in suspending David Coote because the video is, at first viewing, shocking. It needs to take its time while the facts around it are established: when was it recorded, why, and what was the context? Why has it been made public now? The referees’ governing body has to know the answers to these questions before it can make a fair judgment on what action to take.

“What evidence we have now, the video itself, came as a huge surprise to me. There are some Premier League referees I consider more loose-lipped and more laddish in their behaviour away from the public spotlight. David is not one of them.

“I would have described him as Captain Sensible, maybe a bit highly strung at times, and not one of the lads. Unlike some referees, you rarely see him laughing and joking with players during matches — he is generally very straight-laced. I look at the video and wonder if part of the problem is that he is trying to be someone he is not.”

Before he added: “If PGMOL ultimately finds that the video is as serious as it appears, the discipline David will face will be severe, but this episode will also damage the reputation of Premier League referees in general. I remain absolutely certain that our referees are not corrupt — it’s the present standard of refereeing that is the concern for me — but conspiracy theorists will seize on something like this.”