Mike Dean reveals David Coote text and breaks silence on alleged Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp rant

Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has admitted he has contacted David Coote after footage allegedly featuring the match official saw him criticise ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

In the clip which has been circulating on social media, Coote appears to say: "Aside from having a right pop at me when I was reffing against Burnley in lockdown, he accused me of lying and then just had a right f****** pop at me.

"I’ve got no interest in speaking to somebody as f****** arrogant. I do my best not to speak to him…" The PGMOL has since suspended Coote but it has not yet been verified that the referee is the person speaking in the video.

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Reflecting on the incident, Dean told Sky Sports that he had texted Coote to offer his support but would not divulge the response he received. "As referees you can’t say these things in front of camera," he explained.

"You can talk about things with colleagues but you can’t let someone video this and hope it never comes out. Dave is one of the quieter referees of the group to be fair when I was (a professional referee).

"I will be honest, I text him yesterday to see how he was and he replied with a message that I wouldn’t expose to anybody but he will be devastated today, like most of the referees, that somebody has done this video. But to release this video, if it is verified, three or four years after it has been supposedly done, I am very surprised at that."

When asked if this is potentially career ending for Coote, Dean hoped he would be able to recover. "I don’t think it damages his career beyond repair, I like to think that because it is one of these things that has never happened before [he can return].

"I don’t know what line the PGMOL will go down. They need to get all the evidence in place, verify the video, get Dave’s account of what has gone on.

"I like to think they can come to some kind of agreement and it all depends with David, with all this media attention, will he still want to carry on refereeing? It will be a hard step for him to come back."