By David Woods

20th May, 2021 | 10:35am

'Shafted' – Leeds fans right to be spewing after PL announcement for clash v West Brom

Leeds United finally get to welcome fans back to Elland Road after a very long period of exile and we can’t wait. 

However, one man that is unlikely to get a welcome is referee David Coote.

The Premier League has announced that he will be in charge on Sunday and plenty of Leeds fans are spewing.

You can understand why one fan called it a “running joke” and asked, “How many times have we been shafted with Coote either as referee or VAR. The chap is useless.”

We can help out here.

For starters, Coote was on the VAR levers for the game against Southampton when he decided that Patrick Bamford shouldn’t get a penalty because he stayed on his feet.

That’s been universally condemned as a bad decision.

Coote was in charge of the game against Millwall back in the 2017/18 season when he sent Liam Coper off after being surrounded by opposition players.

It was no more than a booking.

He also sent Kiko Casilla off in the crucial promotion game against Sheffield United that we went on to lose 1-0.

Coote was the referee who didn’t punish Jordan Pickford after wiping out Virgil Van Dijk earlier this season that saw the Liverpool defender miss the rest of the season.

David Coote was involved in one of the season’s big VAR controversies when he didn’t punish Jordan Pickford for cleaning out Virgil van Dijk in an incident that left him out for the season.

Danny Murphy said that he “bottled it” and called for him to be pulled from the following game, between Leeds and Wolves.

He reffed it and we lost 1-0 and Coote was also in the middle for the 3-0 defeat against Tottenham this season.

We won’t be looking to him for any favours on Sunday.

In other Leeds United news, ‘Oh my god’ – Bamford shares what Kalvin Phillips almost did after being booed by S’ton fans