Jamie Vardy could face serious FA punishment over alleged David Coote slur to referee

Jamie Vardy is potentially facing a serious punishment from the FA over an alleged slur relating to suspended referee David Coote during Leicester's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.

The 37-year-old started the match and played 79 minutes in what proved to be manager Steve Cooper's last game in charge.

Vardy had little influence on proceedings and failed to add to his tally of four goals so far this season.

But according to Football Insider, he could be punished by the FA over an incident prior to the game kicking off.

It is claimed that Vardy made a derogatory comment about Coote to referee Andy Madley before the two teams walked out of the tunnel. The exact nature of his comment is unclear.

Jamie Vardy pictured during Leicester's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea (Image: Getty)

The report adds that the FA are in the process of reviewing Madley's report before they decide whether to take any action in relation to misconduct, with the comment said to have been included as an 'extraordinary incident' in a separate PGMOL report.

SPORTbible has contacted Leicester City Football Club and the Football Association for comment.

Coote was suspended by the PGMOL after a video of a man, alleged to be the Premier League referee, was widely circulated online.

In the video, he called former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp a "c**t" and made a derogatory reference to his nationality. The Daily Mirror's Darren Lewis reported that Coote accepted the video was genuine, but did not remember making the remarks.

Days later, The Sun released footage of a man, again alleged to be Coote, snorting white powder.

David Coote has been suspended by the PGMOL and UEFA (Image: Getty)

They claimed the video was made a day after Coote served as fourth official for the Euro 2024 quarter-final between Spain and Germany.

The 42-year-old, from Nottinghamshire, has also been suspended by UEFA, while he is under a separate investigation from the FA over an alleged aggravated rule breach relating to misconduct.

In a statement last week, the PGMOL said: "We are following an internal process and taking the allegations into David Coote's conduct very seriously as part of our ongoing full and thorough investigation.

"Whilst David remains suspended, his welfare continues to be important to us and he is aware of the support network available to him."