The hits keep coming for Premier League referee and self-proclaimed Liverpool hater David Coote. After the leak of a video showing Coote, possibly if not definitely zooted out of his mind, disparaging Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp, a new video, published by the often unsavory and sometimes downright evil tabloid The Sun, reportedly shows the now-suspended Coote snorting a white powder of some sort—wink wink—while on duty at Euro 2024 this past summer in Germany.
According to Sky Sports, the English soccer referee association (PGMOL for short) is aware of the new video and said in a statement that they are taking the allegations "very seriously." The spokesperson for the PGMOL goes on to say that "David's welfare continues to be of utmost importance to us, and we are committed to providing him with the ongoing necessary support he needs through this period."
In the new video, which The Sun reports was taken on July 6, the day after Coote worked as a VAR official for the quarterfinal between Germany and Spain, Coote appears to use a rolled-up U.S. dollar bill to snort the aforementioned white powder in close proximity to spy thriller novel The Year of the Locust, by Terry Hayes.
The report says Coote recorded the video himself from inside the hotel room UEFA provided him during the tournament, and sent it to one of his friends. The anonymous friend also states that Coote's Liverpool hatred went deeper than just the one set of videos leaked last week, saying that the referee had previously made disparaging comments about both Reds left back Andy Robertson (possibly stemming from this incident) and also Everton, Liverpool's local rival.
While I'm not one to chastise anyone for getting bombed out of their minds, and therefore the new video doesn't on its own scandalize me, it was probably a bad idea for Coote to record himself doing drugs in a hotel room provided by UEFA. This new video doesn't speak to Coote's potential biases while working as a ref, as the previous videos did, but it does help establish a pattern of behavior that could factor into the PGMOL's ongoing investigation into this whole mess, which remains open.
Coote isn't the only one facing consequences at his job for his part in the first set of videos. The other man in the videos, now identified as former professional cricket player Ben Kitt, was reportedly suspended from his job at executive recruiting firm Forsyth Barnes, which works with soccer clubs including Real Madrid and Manchester United. According to a statement shared with The Telegraph, one of the firm's co-founders, Roheel Ahmad, confirmed that Kitt, who recorded the initial videos, is an employee at the company, and that he has been suspended with full pay while the situation is investigated. Ahmad also noted that the video was taken before Kitt worked at Forsyth Barnes, where he has "demonstrated a strong [work] ethic and dedication to his career."
In a separate report, by The Daily Mail, a source "claiming to have links" to Kitt said that "the lad is absolutely gutted" by the leak, adding that Kitt considered Coote a good friend. The source close to Kitt added that Kitt "has no idea how it's come out at all," which is curious since the report explains that Kitt originally recorded the video to send to a WhatsApp group related to Nottinghamshire cricket, where Kitt played and where Coote's father did as well. Not exactly strong OPSEC shooting off a sensitive video to a bunch of bros, though it is also true that, as to the identity of the specific person responsible for the leak, no one nose.
