Steve Cooper has made a worrying admission. It comes untimely, as the Leicester City boss faces a touchline suspension this weekend.
Steve Cooper is set to miss the upcoming match against Ipswich Town due to a touchline suspension. The Leicester City manager is known to be hot-tempered and he often holds referees accountable for what he views as wrongdoings.
This can be both a pro and a con. It shows that he is willing to put himself on the line to defend Leicester but at the same time, it clearly leaves him susceptible to suspensions, which hinder Leicester.
It is rather worrying for Leicester City that despite losing the EFL Cup match by an embarrassing scoreline of 5-2, Steve Cooper blamed the linesman. If the linesman made what Cooper believed to be the right decision, the Foxes would have only lost by two goals, not three. Big deal, right?
Steve Cooper makes worrying admission about his Leicester antics
Even more worrying is the fact that Steve Cooper is clearly stuck in his ways. Despite facing a suspension in the upcoming trip to Portman Road, Steve Cooper has essentially said 'I'll do it again.'
According to BBC Sport Leicester, Steve Cooper was asked whether his suspension will make him think twice about how he responds to referees going forward. His answer was no, claiming: "I covered it last night and I always try to be honest. That still stands."
There is a fine line between showing a referee what you think and risking suspension. Now that Cooper is suspended, he has turned Leicester into the victim, through an altercation which could have easily been avoided if he stayed quiet.
It would be naive to tell Cooper to be quiet all of the time. After all, this a game of emotion and it's part of what makes the sport so enthralling to watch. However, when a decision has been made, shouting at the referee does nothing except risk punishment.
Many of us come from a time where the scope of what could go unpunished was far larger than the current state of the game. In the modern era, even rolling your eyes at a referee is probably punishable.
However, Steve Cooper is not the martyr he probably thinks he is. Picking up touchline yellow cards will not change the rules to how they once were.