Man filmed alongside Coote suspended from his job with links to Man Utd

THE man who filmed David Coote's anti-Liverpool rant has been named and reportedly suspended from his job.

Footage emerged on Monday of Premier League referee Coote making derogatory comments about Jurgen Klopp and his former side.

Coote, 42, has been suspended by the PGMOL pending an investigation.

Now the person responsible for filming the video, named as Ben Kitt, has also been suspended from his job, report The Telegraph.

The former Nottinghamshire cricketer is being investigated by his employers, executive recruitment firm Forsyth Barnes, whose clients include Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Kitt is heard saying in the clip: “Long story short: Jurgen Klopp’s a c***, Liverpool are all f***ing b***ends and we hate Scousers.”

Forsyth Barnes co-founder Roheel Ahmad said in a statement to the Telegraph: “Forsyth Barnes understands that the leaked video of David Coote includes one of its employees, Ben Kitt.

“This is something that we are taking very seriously and we have suspended Ben on full pay while we investigate further.

“Although we are still in the process of gathering all the facts, we do know for certain that the video was taken some years before Ben became an employee of Forsyth Barnes.

“In his time with the business, Ben has demonstrated a strong [work] ethic and dedication to his career. He has matured considerably and grown into a responsible young man.

“To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation, Forsyth Barnes will not be making any further comments.”

A spokesman for the firm said Kitt did not wish to comment on the video, while Coote is also yet to respond.

In the clip, Coote can be seen branding the Merseyside club "s**t" and calling Klopp a "c***" while in conversation with Kitt.

Referencing a match between Liverpool and Burnley in 2020, Coote added: "Aside from having a right pop at me when I was refereeing them against Burnley in lockdown, he (Klopp) accused me of lying and then had a right f***ing pop of me.

"I have no interest in speaking to someone who is f***ing arrogant."

He later said in a separate video: "Just to be clear, that f***ing last video cannot go anywhere, seriously."

Coote has since admitted the video is of him but "cannot recall" making it.

The ref has been excluded from Uefa's match list for the upcoming Nations League fixtures this week.