Dermot Gallagher’s response to Coote video unveils troubling underlying problem | OneFootball

There’ll be a temptation from the wider footballing community to insist that the buck stops with David Coote.

A temptation that one may reasonably argue should be swiftly ignored given what the Englishman’s now public dislike of Jurgen Klopp potentially indicates about the Premier League’s available body of officials.

A PGMOL investigation may very well opt to strip the 42-year-old of all officiating duties moving forward, but does it address the deeper underlying issues?

Will fans return to the stadiums after the November international break imbued with renewed confidence in referees and the supposed impartiality of their decision-making?

It seems distinctly unlikely on that latter point.

Dermot Gallagher highlights panel review issue

(Photo by Ben Radford/Getty Images)

Dermot Gallagher was asked to offer his two cents on the matter following the PGMOL’s decision to suspend Coote. It’s fair to say his answer will at least disappoint Liverpool fans hoping for a fair review of his colleague’s decision-making.

“What I would say is that at the top level of the Premier League, the scrutiny is so intense. It’s unbelievable,” the 67-year-old told Sky Sports.

“A referee will be exposed to all kinds of things if a decision’s not right. I’ll give you an example: Every weekend, the key match incidents are looked at by an independent panel of ex-referees. That’s how it’s scrutinised. Every referee’s performance is monitored match by match by match.

“A referee, like David who has refereed on there for nine years, wouldn’t have survived for nine years at that level if he wasn’t reffing at the top level and he wasn’t making high-profile good decisions.”

Not quite reassuring, and we can’t help but be drawn to his mention of an ‘independent panel of ex-referees’ as being an indicator of high standards being maintained in officiating.

Not to suggest that’s necessarily a bad idea in principle. However, it does then beg the question as to how on earth Coote was allowed anywhere near Liverpool games following repeatedly poor decisions at our expense.

If the panels in question truly believe the quality of the Nottinghamshire referee’s decision-making wasn’t compromised, what does that potentially say about their reviews of other top Premier League officials? Are the reviews robust enough in of themselves?

There’s at least a whiff of a deeper-lying problem here that needs investigating beyond the referee in question’s ill-advised remarks.