Leeds United release statement following David Coote yellow card allegations — YEP 27/11/24
By Kyle Newbould
The allegations surround Leeds United’s meeting with West
Brom in 2019.
Leeds United say they have 'full confidence' in the
footballing authorities following allegations surrounding a yellow card shown
by referee David Coote in 2019.
The Sun claim Coote discussed the prospect of booking Ezgjan
Alioski with a Leeds fan before the Championship clash against West Bromwich
Albion in October 2019, a game in which the North Macedonian was shown a yellow
card for a challenge on Darnell Furlong. The 42-year-old strongly denies any
wrongdoing and refuted those allegations on Wednesday.
Coote said in a statement: “I strongly refute these false
and defamatory allegations. Whatever issues I may have had in my personal life
they have never affected my decision-making on the field. I have always held
the integrity of the game in the highest regard, refereeing matches impartially
and to the best of my ability.”
The FA have said they are investigating the ‘very serious
allegations’ as a matter of urgency. And Leeds released a statement shortly
after.
A club statement read: “Leeds United are aware of the
allegations regarding the conduct of a match official, involving our EFL
Championship fixture with West Bromwich Albion in October 2019. We respect and
have full confidence in the FA, EFL and PGMOL regulations and processes. We
will be making no further comment at this time.”
Coote is already under investigation by the FA and PGMOL
following the release of a video in which he appeared to make derogatory
comments about Liverpool and their former manager, Jurgen Klopp. The match
official is also under investigation by UEFA after the Sun published a video of
him appearing to snort white powder during last summer’s European Championships
in Germany.
A PGMOL spokesperson said on those allegations: “The facts
need to be established in light of these very serious allegations. We adopt a
zero-tolerance approach to any breach of our Integrity Code of Conduct, which
is signed by all match officials on an annual basis.