The saga of David Coote’s protracted departure from Premier League refereeing appears to be at its end, as the 43-year-old has pleaded guilty to making an indecent image of a child.
The video was in Category A, the most serious class of offence in this area of the law.
Coote spoke only to confirm his name and enter his plea at Nottingham Crown Court and was granted conditional bail. He will appear again on 11 December.
The offence took place in 2020, a year in which Coote was also filmed disparaging Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, a video which would also form a crucial juncture in Coote’s extended downfall.
The video was unearthed in 2024, and Coote was also filmed taking cocaine at that summer’s European Championship in Germany, which saw him banned as a referee by UEFA until June 2030.
In an interview with The Sun in January of this year, Coote came out as gay, and argued the reason for his outburst at Klopp was the pressure associated with his sexuality.
That appeared to draw a line under the whole affair, save for the discovery that Coote had found a new vocation as a delivery driver for Evri, but further revelations would emerge in September 2025.
Coote was charged then with the aforementioned offence, namely making an indecent image of a child, and initially pleaded not guilty.
The most recent development has of course been the change of his plea to guilty, and the judge presiding over the case has not ruled out the possibility of a custodial sentence.
While this must surely be a conclusion in David Coote’s case, it does little to remove the latent air of scandal pervading the PGMOL, England’s football officiating body.
Mostly nonsensical, rumours of scandal have long swirled around members of the body, so it is a shock for one of them to be confirmed by a criminal conviction in a court of law.
Regardless, Coote’s conviction marks the end of a highly publicised drama within the world of football, and, for his victims, a tragic one.
“Nottingham Crown Courts” by Alan Murray-Rust is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.