David Coote - Referee

[upthemaggies]

I've always felt home crowds can intimidate officials into making decisions, sometimes to the point it backfires when you get a fearless ref doing the away team a favour to make a point. I never thought refs were biased in terms of favouring bigger clubs though until our first game back in the top flight in 1992 at Old Trafford. We deserved to lose that game by more than the final score of 2-0, but some of the ref's decisions that afternoon were an absolute joke and that set the tone for much of that season. Could be that Warnock had already got himself a reputation by then, but more likely a case of us being naive as to how to deal with and take advantage of top level officiating on a week to week basis.

[SinceSept1959]

I can't stand Klopp. I sympathise with Coote.

Vice versa mate.
If you couldn't stand Klopp how did you rate Warnock, what on earth would you say to Guardiola and Arteta ?

[Notts78]

Open your eyes when you watch the games.
If you understand the game the arrogance is pretty obvious !
For example , the whistlers who don't encourage their assistants to assist , overruling better placed assistants and ignoring obvious fouls without it resulting in any advantage for starters !
I assume that you've always been impressed by Mr.Drysdale officiating Notts games and Mr.Swabey who decided that the leg breaking tackle on JJ v Gills wasn't even a foul, despite the v.poor assistant being closer to the incident ? Not to mention the Austin & Brown incidents in the same game ?

So at no point have you answered the question about arrogance.

You go on about understanding football… you look at all the incidents you list through rose tinted glasses with an unobstructed view from the stands. Have you ever ref’d a game? I’d implore you too, it’s an eye opener.
Ultimately a referee gives what he/she sees… some decisions may be emotive. Sometimes a ref will overrule the assistant referee, ultimately it’s their decision. That’s not arrogance but the interpretation of the laws of the game of one individual over another.

[queenslandpie]

Has anyone ever seen this chap at a Notts game? (watching).

[upthemaggies]

Refs at lower levels will be mindful of assessors and what that means for their personal progress whilst those higher up won't enjoy being shamed in public by pundits pointing out their mistakes on TV replays, but what about 50/50 decisions? I suppose a good ref would try to even things out in such cases, but the close call incidents would offer refs the opportunity to impose bias with plausibility denial.

It's also probably fair to assume that a small number of refs can reach a level where they *feel* they are untouchable and *could* get away with decisions that other refs wouldn't, especially if they are sat in a room looking at a screen making or overruling a decision and not having to face walking towards supporters and an angry bench at the final whistle. Worse still, VAR officials can deflect at least some of the blame onto the ref on the field by calling him over to look at the screen. It's rare they go against VAR and stick to their original decision, feeling under pressure to agree with the disembodied voice in their ear assuming higher authority.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

Prior to officials being "miked up,"alongside multi angled camera recording in top division games, there was much more of the "banter" between officials, players and managers etc.
There was more industrial language on the pitch and Gordon Hill, for one, was very popular with players for his earthy language .
The old school referees didn't need to keep stopping the game to lecture players and conveyed their message to players in passing.
I was at a game recently and I asked the assessor why the ref stopped the game , to "lecture " a player for such a trivial incident.
I was amazed when he replied to save the player receiving a caution !
I can only assume he had heard dissent or foul language, because the tackle wasn't even a foul !

The official, in this particular thread title, was a " fast tracked official from a very young age and would have played very few , if any , competitive games .
This is, quite likely , part of the " problem " these days, whereby officials know the Laws but don't always know how to apply them correctly , they don't see what actually happens and quite often spot second incidents rather than the initial foul ?
It's also worth noting the obvious, that the game these days is much quicker, especially as officials climb the pyramid.
Quite a lot of officials despite regular monitoring are not as fit as professional players either.
Just like players making just one Professional Apperance , officials at this level have had to work, very, very, hard to get there, to earn their share of abuse and attractive remuneration.
How some of them ,actually manage to stay there is another question. The guy with 20 years experience on the EFL, rarely performs well, at all, in Notts games. Granted, I was very impressed with his performance on his last visit, a trend that I hope will continue.

They should fast track retired players into refereeing, especially in professional leagues. They would have an appreciation of the dark arts and more idea of what is and isn't malicious.


If you look at sports football wants to replicate in regards to respect for officials, it isn't hard to find Rugby and Cricket all heavily use former players as officials

[SinceSept1959]

So at no point have you answered the question about arrogance.

You go on about understanding footballÂ… you look at all the incidents you list through rose tinted glasses with an unobstructed view from the stands. Have you ever refÂ’d a game? IÂ’d implore you too, itÂ’s an eye opener.
Ultimately a referee gives what he/she seesÂ… some decisions may be emotive. Sometimes a ref will overrule the assistant referee, ultimately itÂ’s their decision. ThatÂ’s not arrogance but the interpretation of the laws of the game of one individual over another.

I certainly have answered the question but obviously my points of view don't agree with yours !
Regarding you asking if I have ever refereed a game, I can assure that I have refereed many games during 17 years as an official and also played at a good level for more than 20 years too.
In my day it was about fairness , impartially and team work, whereby, the officials worked as a team.
It was never a question of
" look at me, I'm in charge !
The fans want to see a football game not some centre stage whistler.
The bench mark being "you never noticed a good referee."

The modern era clones could learn from the old timers regarding positioning for a start and the "assistants" in particular are also often incorrectly positioned.
At all levels of the game they line up directly in line with the last defender !
It is ,therefore, impossible to see the Left Winger for ( example ) through a defender's body. Being a yard goal side gives that view !
No VAR to correct the decision outside the Premiership is there.?
P.s. I hope your officiating was of a better standard than your typing ?

[MancMagpie]

The biggest question in my mind is; What are his so called 'mates' doing throwing him under the bus like that?
He obviously thought that saying this stuff wouldn't have any repercussions cos he trusted them.
They're the bad guys in my opinion.

[upthemaggies]

The biggest question in my mind is; What are his so called 'mates' doing throwing him under the bus like that?
He obviously thought that saying this stuff wouldn't have any repercussions cos he trusted them.
They're the bad guys in my opinion.

It was filmed years ago, so I'd guess it's one of two scenarios - A fall out among those directly involved and it's an act of revenge (over an affair or something like that) or it's got shared on trust with another friend who's then shared it with another friend or chat group and it's got leaked to the media by somebody who doesn't even know him.

[M0ufMk3]

Turns out he was the ref that caved into Michael Oliver On VAR and gave the penalty for West Ham that got Ten Hag sacked. And now I hear he has been called over to the screen to review his decision that Liverpool are **** and Klopp is a ****

Going slightly off topic, that incident should have led to Coote missing a week and Oliver missing the rest of the season. The latter has gone from being pretty much our best ref to being absolutely useless (which still puts him near the top of our lamentable collection). I don't think that Ten Hag wouldn't have survived in any case but in another scenario (Ten Hag being less rubbish) it may have been the call that pushed him over the edge. Unforgiveable.