Newcastle United take on Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final later this month and it has now been announced who will referee the game.
The PGMOL have confirmed that David Coote will be the man in the middle at Wembley, on what will be Newcastle’s first cup final since 1999.
It is going to be a special day for the Magpies, and a great honour for Coote to be given the job of refereeing the cup final.
He will be joined by Nick Hopton and Tim Wood as linesmen, with Nick Greenhalgh the reserve option. Elsewhere, Simon Hooper is the fourth official for the League Cup final. Away from the pitch, Peter Bankes will be in charge of VAR, and will receive assistance from Eddie Smart.
Both Newcastle and Man United will be hoping that the officials have no major impact on the game, but Coote did not have a good outing the last time he refereed Eddie Howe’s side.
Carabao Cup final referee has not done a Newcastle game since last season
Interestingly, the cup final will be the first time that Coote has taken charge of a Newcastle game this season.
The last time he was the referee for a Toon game was March 2022, when Howe’s side lost 1-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. That wasn’t a good day for Coote or VAR, as they got a couple of major decisions wrong.
Firstly there was a horrible elbow on Dan Burn by Kai Havertz that did not result in a red card, then there was a penalty shout in the second half for a challenge on Jacob Murphy.
It was a clear spot kick, with the Toon winger fouled in the box by Trevoh Chalobah. However, Coote missed it, and VAR failed to correct his decision.
Alan Shearer branded the call as ‘pathetic‘, while Isaac Hayden got in trouble with the FA for his reaction. The midfielder stated that Newcastle were playing against 12 men, which appeared to imply that the referee was on Chelsea’s side. He was later fined for the tweet.
That was the last time Coote reffed Newcastle. He took charge of a Man United game more recently, and oversaw their League Cup win over Aston Villa in November and Premier League victory against Everton in October.
He is going to be the man in the middle at Wembley, and Newcastle fans will pray that he is better than the last time.
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