Referee David Coote is now the talk of the Premier League, and former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has had his say.
Coote made headlines worldwide when a video emerged online appearing to show him making derogatory comments about Liverpool and former manager Jurgen Klopp.
The official, who oversaw the Reds 2-0 win over Aston Villa last time out, called the coach a ‘German c***’ and Liverpool ‘s***’.
Coote has since been suspended from his post while refereeing body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) have launched an investigation.
Much of the talk revolves around whether Coote can officiate Liverpool games again, or even operate in the Premier League, with former Anfield great Danny Murphy saying he thinks the 42-year-old is ‘finished’ in the top flight.
Giving his thoughts on the matter, fellow talkSPORT host Jordan said: “This is what he’s invited upon himself. So he has to reap the particular whirlwind that he started spinning because he’s the one that opened his mouth and made a terrible judgement call.
“This isn’t an allegation. We’ve seen the video. Unless AI is involved, this is coming out of his mouth and this is what he said.
“Now, it’ll be interesting to see how he can find his way through this because the inherent responsibility will have to be on him.
“Howard Webb [PGMOL head] didn’t invite this. Howard Webb doesn’t want this. He wants a refereeing fraternity that is beyond reproach. So he wants them to be in a situation where the noise is dialled down and he’s trying to establish this. And out of the ether comes one of his elite referees making childish, immature, unprofessional observations.
“Can he redeem himself? Can he find his way back? Should he be dropped into the EFL? And people say, well, if you get punished in the Premier League, is it any less valuable in the EFL? You get the castles from the Premier League? I don’t know. But should a man lose his career over some stupid observations? I’m reluctant to suggest that should be the case.”
Liverpool as a club are yet to respond to the video, and Jordan thinks they may be best to stay put given what’s happened.
Asked how he would have responded as Palace’s chairman, he said: “My reaction to it now would be to believe that I would be objective and go, let the PGMOL deal with it. That’s their job, that’s their problem, they’ve created this situation, get on with doing your jobs. I’ve got a football club to run.
“But I also know how tribal you are when you’re indexed and inside the bubble and so you can’t help but feel that the evidence that you’ve heard and seen about decisions that you were party to as the owner of the football club and watched and you thought, well that’s a bit strong, that’s not right.
“You will be sucked into that narrative and ultimately feel a certain way about it. Look, I’d like to think I’d be objective and let the course of action unfold around this rather foolish fellow’s observations.”
PGMOL head Webb is now in a difficult position, having taken a very public approach to his job as refereeing head.
The former official hosts a show with Michael Owen where he discusses refereeing incidents, while he’s also known to travel to clubs and publicly apologise for botched calls.
When asked if he would call Webb to discuss the story, Jordan responded: “I don’t think I would, I don’t know what I’d achieve by doing it.
“If I’m playing to the gallery, if I’m going to do an interview with the local press in Liverpool, telling them how offended I am on behalf of them.
“Or I look at it and go, you’re a bloody fool, you’ve said stupid things and you’re going to reap the whirlwind of it.
“No doubt people are not going to stop until you’ve been forced to leave refereeing and your vocation and disappear into a third world country and referee over there perhaps, because people might forgive you there.
“But the point is that I look at it and say, what would be the point of discussing it? Besides, what am I going to do with it?
“Am I going to pick up the phone to Howard and say, I think that’s unacceptable? Howard doesn’t need to be told what’s come out of that guy’s mouth is unacceptable.”
