Dr. Gonzo

Definitely and maybe he should have been cautioned more and sent off more. But like you say, it doesn't give Coote a pass at all. I think PMGOL is letting down every referee in England - not just those at the top flight. They contribute to the culture of ref hating just as much as the angry managers and fans. They have a hard job and VAR's made it harder - every important decision is under a microscope now. Referee mistakes have always happened and will continue to happen, they are human. PMGOL needs to actually put measures in place that protect referees. The time for micing up referees, like they are in rugby, is long passed. I think the "well done lads, good process" incident indicates there's a real need for PMGOL to have clear and consistent guidelines on how referees and VAR communicate with each other. Their job isn't as important as air traffic controllers, but they definitely need some sort of strict rules and guidelines on how they communicate... like air traffic controllers... if they want to be taken seriously as the people officiating matches in a league with billions at stake. There need to be clear and publicly available ethics guidelines for referees - and shit that falls under "the appearance of impropriety" needs to fall under an ethical violation, as it does in many other industries that don't even deal with billions in any currency changing hands. Imo there are lots of steps that PMGOL can take to improve their image, so the public doesn't feel that referees lack integrity. But I think what Coote's done goes beyond what PMGOL could do to protect referees and reduce hatred towards referees. Everyone who has a job has to work with people they think are unpleasant. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar, imo. But if you chat shit about these people after drinking and sniffing up some lines on video and that video becomes public... it's really only on you for making those statements. He's brought his own integrity and ethics into question. He's destroyed his credibility going forward. It should destroy his career as a referee in football. I'm not so sure it will because PMGOL's demonstrated an indifference to the appearance of impropriety when they let referees moonlight for leagues owned by the same people who own Man City/Newcastle. But it absolutely should destroy his career. I can't understand how a referee who's been caught on a video ending with "we hate the Scousers" can be expected to referee in a league with 2 clubs from Merseyside. Even if he can never referee Liverpool or Everton again, how do they guarantee he won't make decisions that impact these clubs? I think the way PMGOL's gone about protecting their referees has been misguided at best. To truly protect them and the image referees have, there need to be clear standards and transparency at the highest level. I think considering the speed of the top flight game, fans having access to audio that demonstrates their actual thought process will 100% help most (not all, because some people are just morons and there's nothing that will change that) football fans understand that: 1.) the referees have a difficult job; 2.) how easy it is for them to make genuine mistakes. I also think these billion pound clubs of this billion pound league should be forced to set aside a pretty large sum of money to PMGOL. We all want higher refereeing standards at the top flight, that comes from having higher refereeing standards at the grassroots level and above. That comes from spending money to properly train people. Giving them the funds and resources to want to do something that is: 1.) difficult, 2.) high pressure, 3.) comes with a significant amount of abuse - @Gunnersaurus has pointed out that grassroots refs are quitting due to this abuse. But regardless of what PMGOL, the league, the clubs, the fans can do to make it a bit easier for referees... what Coote's done goes beyond all of that & imo it's nobody's fault but his own. And honestly I think it's a joke he's claiming it's a fake. He'd get a lot more sympathy from me if he owned it - said his comments with his mates were clearly wrong and he was under the influence and was going to start addressing substance abuse issues. I'd genuinely be in favour of him getting a second chance if he said "yeah I should not have done that, it was clearly unprofessional and unethical, I have a drug problem and I'm going to rehab." That would honestly demonstrate remorse... and an attempt to restore the idea that as a ref he should have integrity. Just flatly denying it when anyone who's seen an AI fake knows it's definitely not an AI fake is almost just doubling down. And if he wants to double down on that kind of behavior, I think PMGOL would do best to throw the book at him.

Klopp should fill his nose up with gear and film a response video, for entertainment purposes.

You think a referee making a video where his mates can blackmail him & who decides to use someone's nationality against them when describing what they don't like about their personality is a man of excellent opinions? Bit weird.

As a former cocaine enthusiast, it was immediately apparent what they were both on lol

Lmao that's desperate. I wonder how many people will try using "that's not me, it's AI" in this day and age without consideration for what AI video editting is actually capable of.

Probably unwise to do cocaine with your mate and chat shit as he's recording you, generally speaking.

I mean knowing, PMGOL, I can see them just suspending him for a few weeks - maybe moving him down to the championship before moving him back up to the top flight. I don't think they really give a fuck about how things look - otherwise they wouldn't be fine with the whole side-gigs with people who own clubs in the league.

Yeah I can see why an Arsenal fan would want Ange to stay

The gall of any of these refs calling anyone else arrogant cunts. See ya later Coote, maybe you can still get a job with Beheadie Howe’s employers.

1 point separates 3rd and 9th and 4 points separates 3 and 13th. To me it seems like he’s really just squeaking by with how tight things are in the table at the moment. I think he’ll be under real pressure by Christmas if Spurs don’t have a positive run.

That was more comfortable than I thought it would be. What a start from Slot though.

It’s time to sack Pep and bring in Southgate

You’re probably going to be one of the toughest opponents we’ve come across this season other than Arsenal (and Forest lol)

When Saudi funded mosques in Europe were being used as recruitment centers for radicals to go to Iraq and Syria, I’m not sure it’s so easy to dismiss them as a funder of ISIS. Remember too, ISIS was the coming together of several Wahhabi groups. So I have no doubt Qatar is no doubt a big sponsor as well. Honestly all the big power players in the region use the tactic of backing groups of extremists (which is why they are keen to keep spreading extremism). That’s why Syria is such a shitshow. But I think ISIS are particularly inhumane shitheads, even compared to the other inhumane shithead terror groups. And I don’t think their backers should be so easily forgiven just because they’re very rich.

I think Turkey trying to skirt the line of what side they're on is precisely why Saudi Arabia won't be in NATO. The other member states aren't going to want a country that's even closer to Russia politically than Turkey into the country - don't forget the whole purpose of the agreement was to deter Russian expansion into Europe. There's also the whole Saudi Arabia being the biggest sponsor of ISIS by far... and ISIS having conducted several attacks in Europe.

The last monarchist, that some - especially in the US Iranian diaspora - absolutely love was an idiotic thin skinned autocrat that managed to piss so many people off they had a revolution to get rid of him... which ultimately led to an autocratic regime where all the problems of Iran remained the same, but much worse. They've got the framework for democracy, they had the first democracy in the Middle East - and the Majlis (their parliament) still exists. If things like the Guardians Council are removed and there aren't weird limitations on who can run... they've already got a democratic system. The autocratic bits of the constitution just need to be cut out. There's an angry domestic population in Iran that's caused a great deal of civil unrest over the last few years. With the right kind of external pressure and international assistance, there can actually be positive change in the Middle East. But if the plan is just to carpet bomb Iran and turn it into another Syria... it's just going to be the same situation as Syria where you get a bunch of insane terror groups popping up and it becomes a multinational free for all where nobody declares war but they commit all kinds of war crimes. I do suspect that with Trump in power, the IR backs down a bit - although I wouldn't be surprised if they do all they can to press ahead to get a nuke. But Israel will definitely be emboldened to act less restrained in Gaza and Hezbollah with Netanyahu's boy sitting in the white house. And a more aggressive Israel should scare the shit out of Khamenei & co. But I can't imagine his foreign policy is anything other than chaotic... because he's not an unknown quantity at this point, and now his inner circle is loyalists and fanatics.

A return to democracy in Iran, with either no monarchy (ideal) or only a symoblic monarchy (to appease Iran's rabid monarchists), would be ideal for the region. And the west regaining access to Iran's massive oil reserves in full under a democracy would actually serve as a way to pressure Saudi Arabia. Because right now they've got the west by the balls and there's nothing the west can really do about it.

Saudi Arabia are cunts, I don’t think anyone should be having better relations with them.

I wouldn’t be so sure, I’ve heard and seen plenty of people say things like “well we had a reactionary government for 14 years that broke the country, but labour hasn’t fixed this all in several months and I’m genuinely pissed off about it.” The electorate has the memory of a goldfish I’d fully expect the tories to do better than lib dems in 2029.

I agree with this. In any democracy I think it’s fair to blame voters for being stupid when they’ve been stupid. Can you imagine what it’s like inside the mind of a swing state voter that went Biden in 2020 then Trump in 2024? It wasn’t that long ago he was a demonstrably terrible president - even before you account for lawsuits. If they have internal monologues I bet they’re hilarious. But yeah also the dems are truly a fantastic party at being inept and complacent. Still in a democracy… always blame the voters because they’re the ones who voted.

I think so too. His age was the major issue when he was first elected (which is a bit funny because Trump is older than that now). He should have stuck to doing 1 term and having a primary. Looking at the numbers, seems like democrats not truly being energized by a candidate hurt them. Republican voters always fall in line, but Democrat voters tend to need some love for the candidate to turn up. Letting voters have a say in the candidate probably would have helped.

In Deerborn Trump won overwhelmingly, then Stein then Harris. I sincerely hope they end up happy with the US’s Middle East policy under Trump. Maybe they’ll get to visit that beachfront property in Gaza once the Israelis are done with it.

Think those people are in for a surprise when they find out how close Trump and Netanyahu are lol

Republican sweep it looks like

What a day for football! City losing, Madrid losing, Red Bull losing. Excellent stuff.