Coote spoke out for the first time since his sacking during an emotional interview with The Sun, during which he came out as gay.

And turning his attention to the Klopp video, he explained: “I want to apologise to anybody who I've offended by my actions. I recognise that they fell well short of standards that are expected of a top level referee and I deeply regret saying what I said.

“I deeply regret that I found myself in that position. The comments are not reflective of my views of any of the individuals concerned or my wider views in general.”

The video in question was recorded during the Covid pandemic in 2020, with Coote admitting he “was not sober” when it was filmed.

He had come under fire from Klopp in the wake of Liverpool’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Burnley in July 2020. The result ended the Reds’ chances of finishing the season with a 100 per cent winning home record, although they did go on to win their first Premier League title.

The video was then posted to social media last autumn before the official was suspended by the PGMOL.

And Coote added: “The football industry is really tough for everybody who’s involved. And everybody - when the pressure is on and results don't go in the direction that they’d like - finds themselves in survival mode to a large extent.

“Referees are an easy target because there’s no accountability [for the abuse]. Refs are used as scapegoats. I get that, and I don’t blame anybody for that.

“The difficulty with refereeing is that we have no way of expressing our emotion in the moment.

“We have to hide our emotions. I’d be a pretty terrible referee if I reacted emotionally to what’s being said or what’s being chanted around the ground. We don’t have the emotional release of scoring a goal or winning the game.

“I’m a human being who made a mistake in a moment that I now deeply regret.”