The Premier League Is Beset With Ref Scandals Too

As American football overflows with officiating complaints, English football is buckling under ref scandals of its own.

Two separate controversies within the Premier League have emerged or reignited in the past few days. On Saturday, a controversial red card led to death threats for one official, and on Monday, an interview was released where a disgraced referee said his fear of coming out as gay led to the actions that got him fired.

Michael Oliver’s red card for Arsenal midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly was finally overturned by the Football Association on Tuesday after an uproar in England. Lewis-Skelly tripped Wolverhampton’s Matt Doherty, but deep in his own end—a foul that is nearly always a yellow card or merely a foul. The straight red would have led to a three-game suspension, but the teenager will now be available as Arsenal’s long-shot title race continues.

The initial decision was supported by Video Assistant Referee (VAR), but few others. One pundit and former player, Pat Nevin, said the call set standards at “a bar so low even a limbo-dancing snake couldn’t get under it.” 

Other former referees, pundits, and former players tore into Oliver’s decision, and used it to illuminate broader issues with Premier League officiating. “When will the Premier League bring the best refs into the so-called best league in the world?” former Arsenal player Ian Wright said on Instagram. “At the moment, with this level of refereeing, we’re nowhere near it.”

Following the red card, Oliver received threats prompting “a number of” police investigations, the refereeing body Professional Game Match Officials Limited said Sunday. “We are supporting Michael, and all those affected, and are determined to tackle this unacceptable behaviour,” PGMOL said in a statement. “Sadly, this is not the first time a match official has been forced to deal with threats in recent times.”

The official EPL account issued a statement of its own: “The Premier League strongly condemns the threats and abuse directed at Michael Oliver. No official should be subject to any form of abuse. We will continue to support Michael, PGMOL and all investigations.”

While Oliver’s penchant for penalizing Arsenal players remains mostly in the realm of furious Gunners supporters—for now—there is another Premier League officiating scandal that has more legs.

David Coote was suspended in November for videos of him criticizing Liverpool and former manager Jürgen Klopp, calling the manager a “German c***.” The situation was worsened by another alleged video of him snorting white powder the day after working a Euros match. He was fired by PGMOL in December following an investigation.

In an interview with The Sun published Monday, Coote came out as gay, and discussed his fear of opening up about his sexuality in the “macho world” of football.

“My sexuality isn’t the only reason that led me to be in that position. But I’m not telling an authentic story if I don’t say that I’m gay, and that I’ve had real struggles dealing with hiding that,” Coote said. “I hid my emotions as a young ref and I hid my sexuality as well, a good quality as a referee but a terrible quality as a human being. And that’s led me to a whole course of behaviours.”

Coote said he was “not sober” in the videos about Klopp. He added that reffing more than 90 games in the 2023–2024 season and family struggles also led him to use drugs.

“I don’t recognize myself in the cocaine video. I can’t resonate with how I felt then, but that was me. I was struggling with the schedule and there was no opportunity to stop. And so I found myself in that position, escaping.”

The FA also launched an investigation in November into a yellow card Coote gave in 2019 after allegations he discussed yellow carding that player with a fan online ahead of the match, then told the fan afterward, “I hope you backed as discussed.” Coote denies the allegations, and he told The Sun there had been “no agreement” made and he “received nothing for it.”