Referees with human frailties

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There’s a news management thing happens during the international break.  Football news generally goes quiet, internationals do not really bring the same number of readers as the club game.

Games and results drive the football media business, with transfer ‘information’ dominating times in the calendar.  If you are in the business of writing about football, as these breaks approach, you will maybe stick a piece up your sleeve, to bring out during the fortnight.  You will spot everywhere, including here.

This week, UK football outlets have gorged on EPL referee, David Coote.  Who seems to have a lassez-faire approach to actions and consequences.  Two videos were made public this week.

In the first, from three years ago, he appears ‘tired and emotional’ to use the old euphemism, when making derogatory comments about Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp.  The second, taken during this year’s Euros (where he was officiating), shows him snorting a white powder.  As far as news management goes, someone has knocked it out the park this week.

It’s unlikely we will ever learn who was behind the leaks, although David Coote will surely know.  Nor are we likely to learn what went before, and there has surely been some actions before this.

Football referees are as prone to weaknesses as the rest of us.  If some are so weak they sniff white powder without checking for cameras, football has a problem.  This week will end Coote’s career, with financial consequences for the rest of his life.  How compromised was he?

It may be that he was only weak when it came to some videoed comments on superficial racism and illegal substances, while he remained beyond reproach to threats of ending his career if he did not bend to an extortion demand.  Let’s hope.

Betting is huge business and the majority of betting on UK games takes place beyond these borders.  Money is placed on more than just the result, too.  A compromised referee is worth a fortune in the wrong hands.

David Coote is no longer vulnerable to exploitation and maybe the release of these videos is a consequence of him declining to participate in a wider criminal act.  Any other referee who has been subject to the videoing of inappropriate acts has a lesson on what can happen.  If referees are no different from the rest of society, some may take drugs, gamble themselves into debt and indulge in other nefarious activity.

The wages in England are huge and in Scotland are big enough to accommodate some intrusion.  Credit checks, bank statement inspections and background checks would be a reasonable response to an outed human fraility.

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318 Comments

  1. There’s a clip of a podcast doing the rounds where Fraser Fraser Forster talks about when Virgil van Dijk first signed for Celtic. He said in the first training session Lenny said to VVD that he should try and enjoy his time at Celtic because he wouldn’t be there for long, he was so good.

     

     

    Lenny has since said he watched the videos the scouting team put in front of him then went to see him play and couldn’t believe that no one else had signed him,,he thought there must be something else going on if he hadn’t been picked up by Ajax.

     

     

    I think there’s a similar story with Frimpong – he was already on our radar, Lenny had seen the videos and looked at the Y Scout data but it wasn’t until he saw him for the City U21s that he realized what a talent he was

     

     

    Frimpong was one of this signings where it all came together, but there will be others we’ve signed where scouting reports mean more, data is more important or managers gut will play a bigger part, but a sensible approach will always use whatever information is available before a decision is made on spending millions.

     

     

    We will never know for sure who signed who and why, but you do have to say, when someone’s stats are as good as Kuhns were, and it was no secret – they were all over the Celtic online community at the time , and when his profile is so similar to successful signings we’ve seen before it is reasonable to suggest that scouting data played a significant part.

  2. “I did not believe the many examples of body language reading I hear about on CQN, do not come from expert sources,”

     

     

     

    Should read as :-

     

     

    “I did not believe the many examples of body language reading I hear about on CQN, come from expert sources,”

     

     

     

    You’ll get no clarity with a double negative, eejit!

  3. can someone who posts on SC do me an obligement and post this for me –

     

     

    For a stadium to qualify for European finals it must have an underground access to the stadium for the team busses and officials.

     

     

    It is more about safe access and egress so teams are not confronted by fans.

     

     

    The reality of course is different as ythey still pass crowds getting to the stadium.

     

    Ask Liverpool fans about Paris.

     

     

    Hampden tour actually starts in the unground tunnel.

     

     

    also – season ticket sales regarding stadium expansion chat –

     

     

    53139.

  4. i stand corrected, doesnt need to be underground, but does need to be segreated from jose public.

     

     

    ————-

     

     

    Article 15 Parking spaces

     

     

    15.01 Parking space for a minimum of two buses and ten cars must be available for the

     

    teams and officials in a safe and secure area in the immediate vicinity of the

     

    players’ and officials’ entrance. If such parking is not located in the immediate

     

    vicinity of players’ and officials’ entrance, a safe and secure drop-off area must be

     

    organised.

     

    II – Areas Relating to Players and Officials 11

  5. The Battered Bunnet on

    Gene at 3.21pm

     

     

    To his dying day, Ian Paisley was convinced that S Club Seven were guilty.

  6. Prestonpans bhoys on

    Saint Stivs on 15th November 2024 3:56 pm

     

    can someone who posts on SC do me an obligement and post this for me

     

     

     

    Done!

  7. bigrailroadblues on

    Prestonpans

     

    Who de fook asked you anyway?

     

    Apart from Stivs.

     

    Bloody Kilmarnock hooligan.

  8. Prestonpans bhoys on

    BRRB

     

     

    Watched the Celtic game and the bhoy behind me was not only from Kilmarnock but knew some of my cousins, small world!

     

     

    Anyway nearly cocktail 🍸 time in Gran Canaria

  9. y’all will guess these lyrics nae bother ya sleekit cnuts

     

     

    What you gonna do when things go wrong?

     

    What you gonna do when it all cracks up?

     

    What you gonna do when the love burns down?

     

    What you gonna do when the flames go up?

     

    Who is gonna come and turn the tide?

     

    What’s it gonna take to make a dream survive?

     

    Who’s got the touch to calm the storm inside?

     

    Who’s gonna save you?

  10. On a serious note : Irish living in the UK –

     

     

    advice and help would be gratefully received-

     

     

    HR in work have asked me about this

     

     

    ‘There are changes in respect of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) – a document used by non-British/Irish employees to show UK immigration permission (which confirms conditions of their permission to stay and work in the UK).

     

    The Home Office is looking to move to a digital immigration system (eVisa’s) which will replace physical documents (such as BRPs) by the end of this year. Due to this, BRPs have expiry dates of 31 December 2024 (even if the employee’s permission expires at a later date).’

     

     

    anybody come across it ?

  11. bigrailroadblues on

    Prestonpans

     

    Anyone knowing your family must be a fooking outlaw😁

     

    Have a great holiday ya St Joe’s hooligan. 😀

  12. Spike Milligan

     

    Love the man. A couple of his funnies stand out. Asked why they called him Spike, he said, that’s what my name is.

     

    And asked why he lived in Ficchley, he retorted, cos thats where my house is

     

     

    kinglubo

  13. Prestonpans,

     

    Beautiful place.The bus trip around used to be funny.Have they still got the mental driver on the buses.

  14. Probably be a good crowd tonight,turning up for a tournament that’s already dying on its arse.Nobody interested,nobody wants it.

  15. Driving home tonight spotted the first house on the estate with outside Christmas lights and tree in the window.

     

    Reminded me I need to get my Easter eggs.

  16. Prestonpans bhoys on

    Turkeybhoy on 15th November 2024 7:17 pm

     

    Prestonpans,

     

     

    Beautiful place.The bus trip around used to be funny.Have they still got the mental driver on the buses.

     

     

    Took a taxi up to Mogan in the hills and the 84 bus back, now that wiz mental. All down hill at a speed that made the taxi look like a donkey. Mind you taxi wiz €14 and bus just over €3🙃

  17. Used to take the bus one way,and the boat back.Hairy going round those bends even though you know they have done it hundreds of times.Punters screaming every time.

  18. And I’m just high on the world

     

    Come on and take a low ride with me, girl

     

    On the tunnel of love

     

    Oh love, love

  19. i can appreciate when a player is a player, even those with a 2nd rangers background.

     

     

    however i struggle with the billy gilmour narrative all the time, how many caps now ? how many goals or assists ?

     

     

    even how many forward passes ?

  20. next, that absolute numpty ewan cameron was host of clyde tonight,

     

     

    he raises the point

     

     

    he would rather have ally mccoist on the end of a cross in the box than king kenny, because ally was the better fox in the box striker.

     

     

    britains most decorated player, scored twice in world cups, scored twice as many as super sally,

     

    played more often than not as a forward midfielder.

     

     

    where to even start.

     

     

    feckin moron.