Suspended Premier League referee David Coote has had his own controversial Tottenham moment

Tottenham Hotspur have had their own run-in with suspended Premier League referee David Coote in the past.

The experienced official made headlines this week after a video appearing to show Coote making derogatory comments about Liverpool and their former manager Jurgen Klopp surfaced on social media and quickly spread across the internet. The 42-year-old had been the referee for Liverpool's victory against Aston Villa on Saturday and was soon suspended by PGMOL pending a full investigation into the video.

A PGMOL statement 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."

READ MORE: Exciting talks over future Tottenham transfer agreement confirmed as wonderkid shines

READ MORE: The Tottenham player close to two Premier League suspensions to hand Ange Postecoglou major issue

Coote, who is registered as a Notts County fan with the PGMOL, has been refereeing in the Premier League since April 2018 and took charge of the Carabao Cup final between Manchester Untied and Newcastle last year.

He has taken charge of 15 Tottenham games, the first coming in 2016 in the Carabao Cup with their 5-0 win over Gillingham and the most recent being the 3-2 Premier League defeat at Brighton last month. Coote has also been involved many more times as one of the other officials or in working with the VAR at Stockley Park.

The Premier League data indicates that Coote was in charge of VAR on April 30, 2023 when Spurs made the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool, with Ryan Mason in charge following Antonio Conte's departure from the club and then Cristian Stellini's.

That game did have a controversial moment late on when Diogo Jota went into a high boot challenge on Oliver Skipp, catching the Tottenham academy product on his temple with his studs. It left the midfielder with a cut above his eye but Jota received only a yellow card for the action.

Then after Spurs battled their way back from 3-0 down to 3-3 in added time at the end of the game, it was Jota who popped up with a last-gasp winner for the hosts.

Mason felt that whoever was in the VAR room should have helped the referee Paul Tierney make his decision on the day.

"I would like an explanation and a reason why it wasn’t [a red card]," the caretaker Spurs boss said after the game. "I can understand referees and officials on the pitch missing it even though my feeling was an instant red card because when your foot is studs showing and you’re five-and-a-half feet off the ground and make contact with a player’s head and draw blood, and there is a gash, I think it ticks all the boxes.

"Probably more so an experienced referee in the VAR room, you want him to help the official on the pitch in that moment. Listen, it’s decided the game because that player on the pitch shouldn’t have been on there at the end decided the game. I’m pretty sure most football people’s opinions will probably feel the same."

Jota apologised to Skipp in the tunnel after the game and admitted to the BBC: "It's not a great tackle. I also touched the ball. I also think he gets his head down. It's just brave of him. Unfortunately, it's a foot in the face. I saw the ref could see I didn't mean it and it's just football."

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Want breaking and top Tottenham stories sent straight to you? Join our Spurs WhatsApp community by clicking this link. If you're curious you can check out our privacy policy here.