Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has revealed his opinion of Jurgen Klopp and discussed the situation that led David Coote to be sacked by the PGMOL in December 2024
Mark Clattenburg has labelled former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp “very strange” following incidents during his own refereeing career. The 50-year-old refereed 297 matches in the Premier League before retiring in 2017.
Clattenburg rose to the top of his profession, officiating the 2016 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. He was controversially appointed as Nottingham Forest’s referee analyst in early 2024 and left the role three months later.
In an appearance on the Undr the Cosh podcast, Clattenburg has spoken out about former Premier League referee David Coote being sacked after a video of him calling ex-Liverpool boss Klopp a "German c***" was leaked. Coote was dismissed by the PGMOL in December last year, after another video showed him snorting cocaine. The 42-year-old admitted using the drug as an "escape" after struggling with his sexuality, having come out as gay in an interview back in January of this year.
Clattenburg has delivered his verdict on the situation surrounding Coote and Klopp, as he argued: “It’s absolute rubbish. If a referee has an opinion, are we saying English referees are corrupt by thinking he’s got a problem with Liverpool? No, it’s just his honest opinion that he didn’t like Jurgen Klopp.
“I didn’t like Jurgen Klopp, I thought he was strange. Doesn’t mean he was a bad manager. He was an incredibly good manager. I found him very strange.”
Recalling an incident before a Liverpool match with Chelsea, Clattenburg described a tense pre-match meeting after Klopp made the unusual decision to hand in the Reds’ teamsheet personally. “Jurgen Klopp came in and I thought, ‘This is bizarre, this,’” Clattenburg explained. “And he just stared at us for like 30 seconds. Never said a word. I never said a word. After 30 seconds, I just said to John Terry and Jordan Henderson, ‘I’ll see you out there.’ And he just stared at us. I was like, ‘What a strange bloke.’”
Clattenburg elaborated on the difficulties that Coote will have faced in terms of his job prospects since being sacked by PGMOL and suspended by UEFA until June 2026. Reflecting on personally needing to retrain if he wanted to restart his past career as an electrician, Clattenburg empathised with Coote being spotted in his new job as a delivery driver.
“If you lose your job, for example Dave Coote, it’s a huge moment of his life,” Clattenburg admitted. “He’s give up his career to be a referee and now he’s lost his career, what does he do now?
“I know he’s delivering boxes but it’s tough for him because everyone thinks referees are a protected species and they’ve got massive houses, massive cars. They’re just working-class people but they haven’t got a career afterwards. Everybody sees you as the referee. Everybody sees you as the person that spoils everybody’s fun.”
Clattenburg also discussed the difficulty of maintaining friendships as a referee and stated that a more tight-knit circle would have prevented Coote from losing his job. “For example, Dave Coote, what he’s gone through and somebody in his friendship group has decided to leak that video,” Clattenburg said.
“They’re not friends. But if he had really good friends, that video still wouldn’t be out now. Unfortunately, the way things are, it’s so difficult.“
Meanwhile, Clattenburg’s recollection of Klopp’s behaviour at a pre-match meeting was not the only awkward meeting between the pair. Clattenburg had officiated a Champions League quarter-final tie during Klopp’s time at Borussia Dortmund, which resulted in a 3-0 win for Real Madrid in 2014. However, Klopp happened to walk past the referee’s dressing room at a less-than-ideal moment after the final whistle.
“I had a run-in with him when he was at Dortmund and people criticise but what can I say in this situation?” Clattenburg said. “It was Marcelo, he was playing for Real Madrid. I came outside my dressing room and he said, ‘Can I have a picture?’ I’ve had players asking for my shirt.
“As the photo was getting done, unfortunately, Jurgen Klopp, who was the Dortmund manager, was walking past. He turned around and said, ‘That’s why we got beat.’ Me being me, I turned around and said, ‘Aye, that’s why you got beat three f****** nil, so f*** off.’”