There’s only really one place to start today, eh?

David Coote. Winning of the “I’m going to send Tomiyasu off for breathing on Jordan Ayew” award for farcical refereeing, was yesterday suspended from duties by the PGMOL, pending an investigation into his conduct. The video that leaked – a pretty clear-cut case of two blokes having a bit of a laugh on a sofa and maybe somewhat intoxicated – was pretty damming from Coote’s side. Liverpool were the centre of the controversy, with Klopp specifically being called a c*nt by Coote, following a spat between them during lockdown games.

First and foremost, this is a terrible look for both him personally, as well as the PGMOL. He showed a moment of stupidity by even allowing his mate to film him talking about things that would directly impact his job. And he knew it, with the subsequent video saying “just to be clear, this can never go out” or words to that effect. I think that he has reacted in a moment of weakness (probably drunk or stoned) and that will ultimately cost him his job.

But the damage that this might do to the PGMOL as a whole is something we are still to find out. For too long we’ve been talking as fans (I’ve bleated on consistently) about how the PGMOL isn’t fit for purpose. The decisions their staff make on match days have been getting progressively worse over the years. In Mike Riley we had one of the worst referees picking up the mantle of the head of referees and his successor, the PR-hungry Howard Webb, has done little to improve the quality. Instead, he has attempted a charm offensive by appearing on just about every mainstream media outlet, podcast, YouTube streaming channel that would have him. The purpose? Not to improve relations and get us to a point where we are all one harmonious set of people, able to understand all sides of any particular football story, but instead to try to pull the wool over our eyes in a faux attempt at transparency. Webb’s double act with Michael Owen is a painfully obvious attempt at justifying whatever decision/mistake that has been made previously. When the decision is contentious, they delay the release of this Refs mic’d up for a couple of week’s so they can get their story straight.

PGMOL have been working in tandem with broadcasters like Sky – fronted by the likes of Neville and Carragher – to try to press home this charm offensive; less and less decisions are more regularly contested and it feels to me like the only ones that really get the “hold our hands up” treatment are in games that you might describe as a little less box office in the Premier League. We’ve had Webb and his unofficial cheerleaders like Dermot Gallagher tie themselves up in knots trying to justify decisions by talking about application of the laws, but what Coote has single-handedly done with the release of this footage, is showed that these referees carry inherent biases with them.

We all already knew that. But we have had years of media and PGMOL tell us that it isn’t true. We’ve been gaslighted into it. Despite the fact that everyone knows that they are human beings and by that very fact, therefore carry some kind of (even small) inherent bias, we have been led this merry dance by an organisation not fit for purposes and media who they are in cahoots with.

Not all media, mind, because you can still read some journo’s talking about bad decisions, etc. But I’m talking about the likes of TalkShite, Sky and TNT, both of whom get a far-wider coverage and therefore power than the tabloids, broadsheets, etc.

We all know that referees will carry some kind of biases – even if they can’t help it. But instead of trying to work to counter this in some way, PGMOL just double down on the gaslighting. Fans who question why most of the referees seem to come from the North West are dismissed as conspiracy theorists. Those that pipe up after a terrible decision on their team are mocked by opposition fans and the media, which deflects the attention from the reality, which is that we have a broken officiating body and there has been little attempt to correct it.

Why not have an independent body to have some checks, balances and oversight?

Why not scour the globe for the world’s best referees?

Why do the same small selection of officials get the same teams and so called ‘big games’?

Why not have some diversity measures in place? That happens with other businesses that are large enough and are in the public eye, so why not PGMOL?

We know that even those measures will still not eradicate biases in human beings. But what it will do is show that the PGMOL is taking steps to ensure that they have a variety of different people, from different backgrounds, to officiate in one of the biggest leagues in the biggest sports in the world. It would show they are doing their bit. The taking control of Howard Webb of PGMOL hasn’t changed the way in which PGMOL has functioned or is put together. All he has done is put a shiny PR face on the refereeing body. To coin an old footballing phrase, all Howard Webb has done is “put lipstick on a pig”.

What will happen now then? Will we see this as the catalyst for PGMOL to conduct proper change?

I think you and I both know that is unlikely. They will talk about the investigations, they will talk about ‘learning lessons’, they will most likely eventually fire David Coote. But he will just be the fall guy. He’s the guy that has to dive on the grenade. Just as Lee Mason ‘forgot’ to draw lines for Brentford’s equaliser a couple of year’s back, then found himself back in a job months later training referees, Howard Webb and PGMOL will find a way to weasel a PR response out of this that will be as hollow as a drum.

What should be happening now is real fan pressure for change. But that won’t happen, because all we’ll hear is rival fans ‘bantering’ each other every time a decision that stinks goes against a club they don’t like. All for clicks, likes and ‘clout’. Instead of calling out bad decisions or pushing for real change, banding together, it’ll be the same as always – rinse and repeat.

Sigh.

Back tomorrow with more Arsenal-related thoughts.