With the news today that a Premier League referee (the famous David Coote) has been sacked for differing reasons with regards to breaking the rules, can we FINALLY put to bed the argument that there are no corrupt referees, just incompetent ones?
The old saying “one bad apple” surely applies here?
When the PGMOL itself say they can’t defend one of their own after weeks of investigations, we have to accept the seriousness of the situation.
David Coote may just be unlucky that his indiscretions were made public, so it is amazing how the questions asked about a certain Mr Oliver; his trips to referee in the Arab league with first class travel, etc. And the extraordinary stats produced with regards to his refereeing city115 and The Arsenal matches, have been allowed to quietly slip out of the limelight.
With the decision to sack one of it’s own members for breaking the rules, isn’t it about time we had a completely Independant organisation overseeing referees?
Shouldn’t referees be allowed to tell the media etc the reasons behind controversial decisions?
Those of us who insisted the system had been corrupted from within feel vindicated, but I wonder if there are still others out there who are continuing to deny the obvious?
I take no pleasure in this by the way, just a sense of sadness, relief and anger rolled into one.
ken1945
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Thought he got sacked for snorting the devils dandruff ?
Breaking the rules (law ) yes but not in the football sense .
Seen no evidence that he was sacked for football negligence,corruption or any other football related decision he may have made .
Just a party boy who got caught with his pants down slagging off someone he did not like .
DK, check out the yellow card incident, where he emailed someone and asked if he’d laid a bet as Coote suggested he should.
Slagging off a PL manager then refereeing his club?!
You still don’t see this as corrupting within the game?!
@DanKit:
👍🏻
You get it.
😆
SCORE:
Enemy 2 – 1 Admin
GOAL SCORERS:
sadness
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ relief
anger
You missed out on having no PLEASURE . . .
That would have been the equalizer.
What on Earth are you talking about @ thrill !
I think he’s part of the PGMOL cover up mob!!
But I don’t understand (I am getting old!)
Who the hell is the “enemy”, and even more who is this mysterious “Admin”
I don’t think it’s me, I don’t have any enemies that I know of!
@AdminPat:
You have been robbed off many trophies but do not understand how and when.
Maybe because it was not done at gunpoint.
The PGMOL is your enemy.
I think anyone who makes the posts on JA can pass for the mysterious admin.
@Ken1945
If you are showing signs of surprise in the incidence with the referee, then seriously, I think you are a part of the problem.
The PGMOL is famous for sheet reffing and refereeing as standard operation or do I say notorious.
The PGMOL is more likely punishing a man for his choice of food than for anything else.
Just by the way.
I’d take that job if offered and may never lose a bet, ever again.
The last paragraph of the post @AdminPat
The comments about klopp were unfortunate, but do you expect referees to not have personal opinions? It sounds like he was simply recorded expressing them (while intoxicated?). It’s bad, but not corrupt imo – do we really expect referees to be robots and have completely neutral views on everyone they encounter inside the game? If there was any evidence he was going against Liverpool in their games, fair enough, but I don’t think that’s the case?
On the yellow card issue – most of the sites just say something was said about a yellow card before and after, but something on talk.sport indicated a person said in a message to give alioski a yellow card so he could make a bet on it (jokingly, according to him) and Coote replies “we’ll see”. As the someone from talk sport said “At best, it’s a massive error of judgment. At worst, I think maybe it’s more sinister than that”, which I completely agree with. By the way, it was *definitely* a booking, that challenge. Alioski flew in fast and missed the ball. It was the correct decision, so there’s that.
The white powder one may have been the biggest reason for his sacking – the guy just seems to have problems and shouldn’t be a referee, particularly not at the top level, under the spotlight.
I don’t think we have any evidence of real corruption here, *potentially* some evidence he was biased against certain individuals, but not much that he was even a bad ref tbh (that I’ve seen anyway). And he was sacked, which it seems is what should have happened based on the white powder thing. Definitely should have had some punishment for the other two incidents, especially the yellow card one, but that’s moot now. So imo he *may* have been a decent referee technically (can’t recall watching any games he’s referees tbh) but he was definitely a poor professional.
There has been no proof or complaint from anyone for his refereeing of Liverpool. The guy was a fool, a drunken fool but that doesn’t make him corrupt. He has got sacked and rightly so because he made an error of judgement away from the game. That is not corrupt.
I think we should have a referee officiating table, where teams give points to referees after game. With this table, referees can be relegated and promoted. League one to premiership.
It’s a nice thought but honestly they’d be bouncing up and down the leagues all the time. People are too emotional when they lose and especially when anything controversial happens – they’ll usually say the ref got it wrong. And there are so many controversial incidents where people argue for several different outcomes – it’s as though the game is designed for controversy.
I think they need training for dealing with pressure (if that’s possible) – e.g. I think they tend to do better when they take a moment to think on the pitch or in var. When they give the decision quickly under pressure, I think that’s when things go wrong.
I think Ken1945’s point is that the PGMOL should be properly monitored and asked to account for decisions made – as the manager is expected to do for the benefit of the media – who can then relay that to the viewers and listeners.
I don’t think that is unreasonable at all. The Coote decision has acted as a conduit for Ken1945 to raise the issue of accountability and not much else
“With the decision to sack one of it’s own members for breaking the rules, isn’t it about time we had a completely Independant organisation overseeing referees?”
This doesn’t follow for me – surely had they *not* sacked him, you’d question whether they needed an independent body to oversee? What would an independent group be needed for in this case? To me, this is evidence they’re trying to do the right thing – what more can you ask?
Davi, can you name me one institution that monitored itself and has not been found to be corrupted by its members?
Politicians, Judges, Barristers, Lawyers, Soliciters, Bankers, Police Forces, Unions are examples I can give you where corruption went unchecked because it was self regulated.
It was whistleblowers who brought these establishments down and why do you think the PGMOL is any different?
There have been cases in many different countries of corruption by individual referees and we had the scandal of FIFA with Blatter, EUFA with Platini and now, in our own backyard, Coote and city115!!
Let’s see if you can give an example of self policing that has worked.
Ken, below is something I saw on twitter by an Arsenal supporter by the name of Andy Kelly. Now I thought I know a lot about the history of The Arsenal, but Andy is an absolute professor of our great club.
“A story about referee impartiality. Back in August 2000, Arsenal played Sunderland and there was a scuffle in the tunnel after the game. Following this, Arsene Wenger was given a 12 match ban by the FA for manhandling fourth official Paul Taylor. Now Mr Taylor was a known Tottenham fan. It was common knowledge. He also used to go out with a young lady whose brother-in-law Steve is a staunch Gooner. Following Wenger’s ban, Taylor made several calls to his ex-girlfriend. As she didn’t answer her phone he left voicemail messages. In these messages he boasted that he had stitched up Wenger and claiming that he had been the reason behind the ban. Steve told me about this and I decided that the FA needed to know. So I wrote to the FA and explained what Taylor had told his ex-girlfriend and that there actual proof through the voicemail messages. The upshot was that Wenger’s ban was overturned with Taylor calling his ex-girlfriend (again) and mentioning the letter from me. Perhaps the most galling thing is that neither I nor Steve got a mention in Arsene Wenger’s book about us saving him from a long ban.”
I checked up on that Paul Taylor, and that 00/01 season was the only season he refereed in the PL. Guess what he’s doing now, he’s working as a referee coach for the PGMOL.
WOW!!
We shouldn’t let this story slip under the radar HD and thanks for the story.
I had never realised AW even got a twelve match ban, so it must have been rescinded very quickly and quietly.
Let’s ask Jax, Davi, Dan, DK, Reggie, Thrill etc what they make of this, along with the Coote yellow card bet I mentioned above.
Perhaps even AdminPat might want to comment on it!!
I should have added that the PGMOL sure know how to select people to represent them
The list gets longer and longer, but heads are still buried in the sand!!
@Ken1945:
I think you’ve missed out on a key name:
” Let’s ask Jax, Davi, Dan, DK, Reggie, Thrill etc what they make of this . . . ”
That “etc” in the above statement must be “DEREK” who has gone mysteriously silent on this.
My opinion is that: a baby with a little knowledge of football can understand the near constant mockery we experience in the name of officiating.
But DEREK, well, you see . . .
I may yet be at typing “referee” but DEREK mystically knows it and appears to their defence while I’m just at “ref”.
Even the broadcasters are part of this charade.
But I guess we are more addicted to our favourite sports than the other guy is to his stuffs.
So, we are not getting out of it.
Not anytime soon and very soon.
Ken, I’ve just looked it up and the appeal was heard in February. The original charges were dismissed, but Wenger was found guilty of misconduct for which he was fined £10,000 and reprimanded.
Thanks again HD, they say that things eventually comes out of the woodwork and this is a classic example.
Great result tonight, could we start dreaming of CL glory at last?
No problems Ken.
Yep, great result. Winning this competition, although I much prefer the old European Cup format, is the one that I want us to win more than any other trophy.
I agree, as it was the actual Champions… just as the Cup Winners Cup was just that as well.
Just FIFA making more money and have you seen who’s got the world cup?!
No rainbow armbands allowed there then!!
. . . and afterwards you could see Wenger bemused as he watches his players get hit like some martial arts practice target.
The FA has something its rule book:
” A participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute . . . ”
Doing as much as showing the referee in bad light – for whatever reason – can be interpreted to be bringing the game into disrepute . . . which is against the law.
And that is punishable offence.
Wonderful world.
I vagually remember this Ken. Arsene was accused of manhandling Paul Taylor and received a long ban and huge fine, and threatened to sue if it wasn’t overturned.
Seems he doesn’t much like refs named Taylor as he was also done for shoving Anthony.
That twitter nonsense referred to in HDs post seems like a load of BS to me.
DEREK:
Nice to have a good morning laugh.
I wish you a wonderful day.
Quite frankly
Having the favourites all about dropping points during the weekend, bad weather made it possible for Liverpool to escape defeat at Goodison. So, the referee in charge of weather might have something in it.
We can call that the hand of God.
😁🤭
Regarding the headline question, I don’t think that we do need an independent ref regulator, but that the FA, PL & EFL who together finance the PGMOL should take complete control of it.