Three controversial David Coote decisions that angered Liverpool fans as referee suspended for alleged Klopp ‘c***’ rant

SUSPENDED David Coote sees himself in the eye of a storm after THREE contentious decisions against Liverpool have resurfaced.

This comes as Coote was suspended after a shocking viral video allegedly showed him refer to former boss Jurgen Klopp as a “c***”.

The astonishing clips shows an alleged Coote also refer to Liverpool as a “s*** club” alongside one other man.

The 42-year-old refereed Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday in which he was at the centre of a few controversial decisions.

He appeared to deem Leon Bailey’s last-man challenge on Mo Salah not to be a foul prior to Darwin Nunez scoring, but also denied Villa a penalty despite Conor Bradley’s tug Pau Torres’ shirt in the box.

The PGMOL are investigating the video with the referee now facing the sack after being suspended from officiating duties.

Coote “cannot recall” abusing Klopp in the video rant that seems certain to end his refereeing career.

But the Nottinghamshire official is NOT denying the accuracy of the footage which has gone viral on social media.

He is understood to not be denying the accuracy of the comments although he has admitted to refs’ chief Howard Webb that he cannot recall all the contents.

The debacle seems almost certain to end with Coote being sacked.

The X-rated scathing attack on Liverpool and Klopp has sparked fans to investigate several contentious historic incidents involving Coote’s officiating in matches.

Although he cannot be blamed for these decisions, Coote has found himself at the wrong end of some damaging accusations.

PICKFORD’S FOUL ON VIRGIL VAN DIJK

Coote was on VAR on the day that Jordan Pickford inflicted a horror tackle on Virgil van Dijk in the penalty box in October 17 2020.

The incident saw world class defender Van Dijk undergo surgery to fix his ruptured ACL and miss the rest of the season.

Not only were Liverpool denied a penalty, but Pickford avoided any type of punishment as the Toffee’s earned a 2-2 draw at Goodison.

On-field ref Michael Oliver later admitted that he should have shown Pickford a straight red and the PGMOL held a mid-season review.

However fans were hacked off with Coote, who was on VAR, as he denied the penalty on the basis that Van Dijk was in an offside position.

But Oliver could have still dismissed the England goalkeeper for serious foul play or violent conduct.

ODEGAARD’S HANDBALL

Coote was the VAR official when Martin Odegaard handled the ball inside David Raya‘s penalty box last December.

Mohamed Salah had attempted to flick the ball round Odegaard when the ball hit the Arsenal captain’s arm as he was falling.

Referee Chris Kavanagh waved on and Coote confirmed his decision not to give a penalty after a VAR review.

In-game audio revealed Coote saying: “For me, Lee, I’m back with live. So, he’s falling down, he’s moving his arms in towards him, so it’s check complete for me.”

After the game ended at 1-1, head ref Howard Webb said: “The VAR looked at it and thought it was a case of Odegaard trying to make himself smaller by bringing the arm back towards the body.”

But Webb later admitted that he believed Liverpool should have been awarded the spot-kick.

ORIGI FOULED BEFORE MAN UTD GOAL

Liverpool fans have gone as far back as 2019 to dig out a problem they had with Marcus Rashford‘s opening goal five years ago.

The oldest call that has riled up some supporters came during the Reds’ Premier League-winning 2019/20 season.

Liverpool felt they should have received a free kick for a foul by Victor Lindelof on Divock Origi in the build up to Rashford’s opener at Old Trafford.

Klopp’s side were calling for the goal to be ruled out, but ref Martin Atkinson was close to the incident and Coote backed his decision not to blow for a foul.

Coote decided that it wasn’t a clear and obvious error to not award the foul leaving Klopp was furious before Adam Lallana equalised in the 85th minute.