Has Amorim gone too far with Rashford criticism? | David Coote's statement | Walker's 'uncomfortable' conversation with Pep
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Welcome to Backpages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido and joining me are Charlie Wyatt from The Sun and Jason Burt from The Telegraph. Welcome along to you both.

We start Back Pages tonight with a story that is actually on the front page. Sacked referee David Coote has given his first interview since he was dismissed following a number of revelations, including derogatory comments about Liverpool and their former manager, Joachim Klopp. A PGMOL investigation found Coote's actions were a serious breach of his contract, which left his position untenable. Well, Coote has told The Sun that he is sorry and takes full responsibility for his actions. He also revealed that he is gay...

detailing his struggles to come out as a gay man in football. OK, let's talk with our guests then, Charlie Wyatt and Jason Burt, about this story. Charlie, let's speak to you first. It's your paper, The Sun That's Got It. Talk to us about these revelations and ultimately why David Coote has spoken to The Sun now.

Yeah, great interview by my colleague Stephen Moyes. Yeah, but basically Coote has said that he turned to cocaine because he was too scared to come out as gay in the macho world of Premier League football. He says repressing his sexuality and the pressure of the job led to the cocaine abuse.

And he said, you know, he turned to the drugs as an escape due to being forced to hide his emotions and his true identity on and off the pitch. He talks about being in an incredibly dark place. And he's chosen to tell his story to the sun because he says he wants to try and help others, that he's bottled up all these emotions and has found himself in this situation. He's obviously urging others to help.

if they have similar feelings, to just talk to people and reach out for help. He also talks about his referee's schedule. He officiated, I think it was 90 games around the world in 12 months. So he's saying that also helps

left him needing the escape of cocaine. He used that word, escape. And he's also apologised to Jurgen Klopp and anyone else he offended by his comments that were merged on video in November.

Thank you for that Charlie and for running us through all of that. Jason, when we first heard the story involving David Coote, that video that went viral where he made those true comments about Jurgen Klopp and then what unfolded really quite rapidly after that, does this story put a very different hue on David Coote at the moment and the struggles that he's faced?

To an extent, yes. I mean, I think it was unfortunately the right decision to be sacked by the PGMOL under any sort of circumstances, given what happened. But at the same time, I think we all feared and all were concerned that there was a

human side to this as well and obviously David Coote and he's clearly his own struggles and now he's spoken out about that and put some detail as to how he feels and what drove him to behave the way he did. I think we really need to think about this in terms of the human toll, the damage that's been done to him and to his family and obviously the pressure he's been under and the way he's felt and obviously talking about his sexuality as well and how football behaves towards that and

obviously we know that it's still an ongoing issue in terms of gay people in the sport being um feeling they're not able to to express their their their true feelings and obviously that is something that has been a huge kind of um

ongoing issue in men's football in particular, obviously. So that is one very serious side to it that is something that football has not really got to and not managed to cope with. And then obviously there's the pressure and the scrutiny he was under and the abuse he suffered, his family have suffered and how that's made him feel the dark places he's been in

in and so on so yeah we have to have a great deal of sympathy towards him and how he's felt in the last few months and over the course of being a premier league referee and and obviously the toll that takes on him and his family so it's obviously very brave of him now to come out and talk about it and um hopefully give some more um insight as to how he behaved the way he did and why he behaved the way he did and and express those feelings um in public

There are so many elements to this story. And, you know, we've seen the shots of the newspaper there, you know, the death threats, the trolls, the really quite sickening detail that there is that David Coutts had to face. And remember also that he has his partner, David,

and other people that have been involved in these stories, the family as well, that are necessarily affected by that. However, one of the other elements is that he says that he hopes that his experiences can be utilised in football at some point in the future. Charlie, what sort of form do you think that could take?

He's hoping to remain in the game, potentially as a VAR trainer and maybe play a role for

for speaking out for referees in the, in the media. He's not, he's not ruling out, uh, you know, being a referee again. Uh, but at this stage, uh, realistically probably looks unlikely, certainly short term. Uh, and he's not talking about that. Uh, but, but, you know, quite, quite clearly. Um, yeah, let's not forget he was a good referee, uh,

a really good referee. Um, and you know, he deserves a chance to get, to get back into the game, uh, in some form. There's absolutely no doubt about that. Uh, yeah. And, and I really hope that is the case. Um, and you know, he's been very brave. You know, you can watch the, there's a video on our website. Yeah. It's, you know, understandably, you know, really tough for him to speak about it. It gets quite emotional, uh, on numerous occasions, actually. Um,

So, yeah, it was a really tough one for him. But, yeah, he's been very brave. And as you say, there's a lot of elements to this story, all sorts of different areas that he's speaking about in terms of personally and addressing some of the football issues as well that have surfaced via these messages that appeared in November and December.

Well, related to this story is what the referee, Michael Oliver, has suffered after, of course, the decision to send off Myles Lewis-Skelly in Arsenal's 1-0 victory at Wolves over the weekend. And this in your paper, Jason, how conspiracy theories engulfed

Oliver, and I guess, you know, we've got a situation here. This is a running theme at the moment that it seems like, you know, referees are put in an almost impossible position when they make decisions that are, you know, either correct or, you know, that they feel that fans will voice their opinions so vehemently, especially through social media, implying bias. Just tell us a little bit about this piece.

Yeah, my colleague Ben Rumsby has gone through this various sort of past precedents and things that have happened involving Michael Oliver that have fuelled this ongoing feeling among some Arsenal fans that there's some sort of conspiracy led by the Premier League and the PGM against their club and they've picked up various examples and so on obviously involving Michael Oliver in particular and it's obviously been whipped up into this kind of frenzy really in the last few days and there's no other way to describe it in which there's been all sorts of wild allegations being

flying around with regards to corruption and bias and so on and so forth. And I mean, frankly, it's absolutely and utterly ridiculous. And obviously the extent to which Michael Oliver has been targeted, the threats he's received. You've even got people on social media say, well, he can't receive threats because he hasn't got social media accounts. Well, the police have been round to his house and told him of the threats that have been posted about him. You know, so people are just losing their minds. I really think, you know, we're in a very sort of

strange, febrile atmosphere at the moment in which people are losing all sense of reason. And you're even getting... I'm not being too rude about my own profession. You're even getting journalists now who are saying wild accusations and allegations. Former players who are going on TV and radio and writing about it, making all sorts of strange and sort of, you know...

you know, hardly disguised sort of claims of corruption in the game, which, I mean, if they've got evidence of any of these things, they should provide them proper hard evidence, not assumptions, not suppositions in regards to certain officials. And, you know, we've got to worry about the welfare of these people, but also what we're trying to do with this game of football that we all love, where we're actually making it into such an angry place.

You know, everyone is angry. It's always somebody else's fault if something goes wrong. Nobody ever makes a mistake in terms of actually on the field or the pitch, the players themselves. It's always somebody else's. Somebody else is to blame. Nobody can just lose.

Arsenal actually won the game on Saturday. Miles Lewis Kelly should not have been sent off. However, I would say it was quite a snide challenge. He did catch the player quite high. I understand why the decision was made. I think it was the wrong decision. I actually think the rules should probably be amended to look at those sorts of challenges, those sort of tactical fouls. I think there was no attempt to play the ball whatsoever. People have talked about other challenges where an opponent has gone over the top of the ball, but they've tried to play the ball.

He didn't try and play the ball whatsoever. In saying all of that, as things stand, he should not have been sent off. It was a mistake. I think the red card should be rescinded. But, you know, it's not some terrible, horrendous crime, another litany of crimes against Arsenal. I think people really need to sort of have a long, hard look at themselves and how they're behaving at the moment, really, towards these sort of incidents that are happening every week.

Yeah, I mean, you know, you make a really good point there, Jason, about the sort of severity of the incidents and the extent and the nature of the reaction and the word angry there. I mean, you know, I was just looking at Charlie whilst you were speaking and Charlie, you were nodding your head there. I wonder what does this say about the sort of wider malaise that is afflicting the game right now, the culture of football and how it's being affected by, you know, this...

ability for fans to have such a view on the game, express it, but in such wild ways at the moment that is really affecting referees, their families, and also ultimately the lifeblood of referees coming up and through the game and being the future Michael Olivers.

Yeah, I mean, it's horrific. And, you know, we're all hearing sort of people that are normally sort of quite sensible coming out with these ridiculous conspiracy theories, rather than just accept the fact that Arsenal have actually suffered some pretty rotten decisions, as have other clubs. You know, let's not forget Wolves last year. And I think Dermot Gallagher made a really good point.

you know, on Sky Sports News earlier was just in terms of the damage this is doing, real serious damage to the, you know, the prospects of young referees wanting to come through. And, you know, 21, 22-year-old referees that, you know, vitally important that they come through. We'll be looking at this, you know, the nonsense that these referees are suffering and, you know, Coop speaks about it as well, the death threats he received.

you can understand why these young referees decide, well, I don't want to do this. So it could have real long-lasting damage, all this horrible stuff on social media.

And not just referees who are suffering, Jason, but managers as well. Stuart Catterwell, who tendered his resignation, which was very reluctantly accepted by Motherwell, who, by the way, are fifth in the Scottish Premiership right now. Yes, they've suffered three defeats on the bounce and a couple to St Johnstone back-to-back, but...

I mean, for a manager in Scotland's top tier to go to his boss and say, "I can't do this anymore because the abuse is affecting me and my family," I mean, that's just so shocking, isn't it, Jason?

Yeah, it is. I mean, we've always had situations in football grounds where there's been a lot of abuse directed at managers, officials, players. And some people believe that that is part of the game, that they have the right to go and vent their feelings that actually, you know, whatever they say inside a stadium, they can say what they want. Or obviously now that's extended much further into social media and so on. And you're reaching situations in the past where family members have not been able to go and watch games.

Their son or daughter play in games and obviously managers as well feeling the same with their families. But, you know, it just seems to be moving to a new level now. It seems to be constant and it seems to be quick and it seems to take an awful lot for it to happen. And these people aren't there to be abused. They're doing their jobs. Now, whether you think they're up to their job or not, that's fine. But you can criticise, but you don't have to abuse people.

and I think it just goes far too far. I mean, I'm talking to people who've got sons playing football. It must be horrendous. There's one father I spoke to last week who has his son playing at a very, very high level and he said if he knew now what was happening, if he knew back then when his son started out what he knows now, he would not have got him to play football. He would have discouraged him and not had him play the game. And this is a guy at the highest, highest level that he feels so strongly about it. And I sympathise with that. I really do. And I think...

We're creating this situation where we're just making it so nasty, so feeble, so mentally challenging for everyone involved in the game that some of the joy has been sucked out of it. You know, it's supposed to be fun. We're supposed to enjoy it. I know people are passionate and they feel strongly about it. And that's great because we get great atmospheres in grounds and people...

spend huge amounts of money following the clubs and teams and really enjoy that element of it. But can they really enjoy being so abusive? I just don't understand it. Maybe I'm naive and stupid, but I just don't understand why people behave like this. Gents, we're going to talk...

about Marcus Rashford, currently a Manchester United player. I know we haven't got too much longer to go in this winter transfer window, but may not be by the time that 11pm on Monday 3rd February rolls around. Let's come to your paper, Jason. The piece that you've written, Amram has gone too far in humiliating Rashford. To say that this relationship is strained is putting it lightly, isn't it?

Yeah, and the whole point of the piece is really about one specific remark from Amarim. We talked about abuse already today. I've received an awful lot of abuse myself from Manchester United fans today about that piece because they...

They've contrasted it with another piece I wrote a while ago about how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs more ruthless. But they deliberately missed the point. The point I was trying to make is, yes, I agree with Amram's decision. If he wants to move Rashford on, fine, do it. You've made a very decisive move there. You've been ruthless yourself. You've done all of that. We'll just get on with it now. Don't then go into another press conference and say that you'd rather basically pick your 63-year-old goalkeeping coach rather than...

Marcus Rashford, that's not a clever move. That's humiliating a player and it's also affecting the value that Manchester United can realise for him in the transfer market with one week to go. If clubs are

are looking at that deal now they're thinking well you know we're not going to pay the amount of money that Manchester United want and we had a situation before where Rashford had kind of given the advantage to Manchester United by saying he was looking for a new challenge and that was really Man United were obviously in a stronger position then they've switched that back a little bit now by doing this because clubs are looking at it and thinking well you're getting desperate to move him on we're not going to give you what you want we want you to subsidize much more of his wages in the last week of this window if we're going to sign him

We've got a situation where he can't stay. He really cannot stay, neither for his welfare, his benefit, or for Manchester United. So something has to be resolved. But I just think that Omerim, who we should all admire managers, by the way, for being honest and truthful and saying what they want. And we want them to be interesting and we want them to give us opinions. But I think with that particular remark, he just probably went a little bit too far.

So he can't stay, says Jason. Charlie, what are the prospects for Marcus Rashford with a week to go? The idea of maybe going to Barcelona on less wages than he's currently on? Maybe this should have been addressed a little bit earlier on?

Well, you know, but Marcus Rashford wants to go to Barcelona. And I can understand, you know, Barcelona would be interested in signing him. The problem, of course, are his wages. You know, £325,000 a week. You can understand why...

clubs in terms of bringing them on loan with a view to a permanent move are really struggling with those figures. And of course, United are going to take a loss with those wages and they're going to have to pay some of that amount. That's, I think, pretty obvious. But I think...

I still think it's going to be really tough for United to move him on. And the other thing, of course, United wants to sell him ultimately. They want to get some money for him. But Amrim's comments have not really helped in terms of his transfer fee. He's probably not 15, 20 million off that really in some respects. And he's obviously not been involved for such a long time now.

So I can understand why Russia is absolutely desperate to get away. And I can see why there are lots of clubs from around Europe and probably the world that want him. But I think it could be a very difficult deal to do over the next week.

In your paper, Charlie says it will cost United £6.5 million in wages until the Summer Wonder opens if he doesn't leave before Monday. Clearly, that's a lot of money for United to have to just lose. Rashford wants out as well. Jason, I just wonder, do you see that there's any way that maybe a deal could be done domestically that is just so desperation stakes that you've got to try and find a way of getting him out for both the player and the club? Yeah.

Yeah, they've got to find a resolution, I think, really. And I think it may well be that Manchester United more than Marcus Rashford have to take the hit on that now. I think at the start of the window, they were hoping the situation was different. We know that Marcus was probably willing to take some sort of cut in wages. But I guess Manchester United might have to bear quite a lot of the brunt of that themselves now. And as you say, it could just be that any club that comes in now, they'll just try and cut a deal with. I think, obviously, they're hoping he was going to go abroad.

maybe Barcelona or to Italy, but actually I think at the moment, I think they're probably looking at thinking we'll just take anything as they come in. We know West Ham have expressed some interest, whether or not they can be of interest to Marcus Rashford, we don't know, but he's got to get out of Manchester United and he's got to move somewhere quick. Let's move to the back page of The Guardian to talk Tottenham Hotspur. Daniel Levy wants Ange Postacoglu to steer Spurs out of trouble. How solid a vote of confidence does this feel to you, Charlie?

Well, I think, you know, the problem Costa Cognos got is, of course, that the fans, I think, have turned now, you know,

You know, it's been a split over the last few weeks, even months. But the most important person, of course, is Daniel Levy. And he wants his manager to stay. And with Tottenham still in the Carrow Cup and, of course, Europe as well, I do get that. And we know that the injury list is absolutely appalling. So we've got to have some sympathy there for the manager. Yeah.

Whether he can get one or two players in, maybe, but I don't think they're going to be huge signings. So I still think, yeah, short term he's OK, but whether he's still going to be manager of Tottenham after two or three weeks, I think the key game is Anfield next week. If Tottenham...

see that match out, get to Wembley, I think, yeah, Postakoglu will still be in charge next month. Do you agree with that, Jason, that make Wembley, he stays?

I think actually just as key to it is the Europa League because Tottenham see that as a way into the Champions League. Obviously, if they win that competition, I think the Carabao Cup, yes, absolutely. Fantastic chance to win their first trophy since 2008. But I think financially, I think the Europa League means more to them because of what the possibilities of

of getting into the Champions League. So that could sustain him as well if he continues to have a fairly convincing campaign in Europe. But obviously he's on very, very thin ice. The lack of pre-options elsewhere, the costs involved of replacing him are other factors. I want him to stay. I think he should stay. I can see what he's trying to do. It's not working at the moment. I know it's very frustrating for everyone, but I think they've almost got to stick with him for this season and try and see it through. And hopefully the situation will improve for them next season when they get their players back properly.

Let's finish very quickly if we can, Charlie, back in your paper on Karl Walker. My awkward Pep talk, it says. Found it uncomfortable to tell Pep that he wanted to go. He's been unveiled at AC Milan. What do you make of the move? I think it's a good move for him. Great opportunity, brilliant club. Got the Milan derby coming up. He's had a rough season, struggled with...

injuries, form, and that goes back to the end of last season, actually. His last six weeks weren't great for Manchester City. You know, the Euros was the team of the tournament somehow, but I don't think... I thought that was a bit of an unusual one. So it's a good fresh start for him. He'll relish it. Obviously, he knows a few of the players in this...

in this Milan team because there's a few English players there, aren't there? So, yeah, I think he'll enjoy it. And, yeah, really, really, really, really fortunate to get that move. We'll see how he fares. Charlie and Jason, thank you very much for your insights tonight.