Premier League referee David Coote was entangled in a huge controversy on Monday (10 November) as a video leaked of him making abusive comments on Liverpool FC. Out of nowhere, a clip emerged that shows Coote hurling abuses as the Premier League leaders.
He slammed Liverpool as a ‘s***’ club and went on a huge rant at Jurgen Klopp, stating: “c***. Absolute c***. Aside from having a right pop at me when I refereed them against Burnley in lockdown (2020), he accused me of lying then had a right f****** pop at me.
“I’ve got no interest in speaking to someone who’s f****** arrogant. So I do my best not to speak to him. James Milner’s alright. You can see me there [in a picture on his phone] with a mask on. Got to careful right, we’re social distancing, we’re two metres apart. But my God, German c***. F*** me.”
David coote ladies and gentlemen pic.twitter.com/WDHc36a7Mn
— Josh (@Josh97LFC) November 11, 2024
Coote then tells the person recording the video that it cannot be published anywhere, only for it to get leaked anyways. It appears that this is actually an old clip that was recently leaked to get Coote into trouble.
The PGMOL (Professional Game and Match Officials Limited) have suspended the referee and will take further action pending an investigation.
Coote reportedly denied all allegations initially. On further pressuring, he’s allegedly admitted that the video is not fabricated, but it was recorded many years ago.
Moreover, he doesn’t remember the discussion that triggered this. But this clip has gotten many fans wondering who exactly is the person to have ratted the referee out.
This individual is not a fellow Premier League referee or even a footballer playing in England.
It turns out on a little bit of online investigation, some individuals have founded this to be Ben Kitt. He is a former cricketer who mostly played his trade in the English county cricket scene.
Kitt was primarily a fast bowler who came up through the Nottinghamshire academy. He also played for the Leicestershire reserves in the Second Eleven Championship (English County’s reserve league), but had a shortened career due to injury problems. He had to retire from county cricket in 2019 after suffering a back stress fracture and being released from his contract.
On a closer introspection, the person recording the David Coote rant does look exactly like Ben Kitt. An image of the former cricketer’s Facebook page shows the fans’ guess to be spot on and many are accusing Kitt of being responsible for snitching on the referee. Coote hails from Nottinghamshire and is a Notts County fan as well. There is a chance he became close buddies with Ben when he played cricket in Nottinghamshire.
The 29-year-old ex-cricketer seems to be currently working as a consultant for Sky Packing Material, a glass merchant company in the UAE. Kitt has even tweaked his name a little bit on his profile at Forsyth Barnes in an effort to stop people from realizing it was him who recorded the clip.
Kitt is currently also working with Forsyth Barnes to work with commercial and marketing professionals in creating teams for the Etail (process of selling products or services online) sector.
Of course, Kitt’s phone might’ve been hacked, and the hacker might’ve leaked this video. But until that is proven, he’ll continue being responsible for selling out his good friend.