Sacked referee David Coote comes out as gay and addresses leaked videos

Former referee David Coote has come out publicly as gay, explaining that he has had “real struggles” with accepting his sexuality in the “macho” world of Premier League football. 

Coote, 42, who was sacked from his role after a series of incidents including alleged cocaine use, explained that he took drugs to “escape” fears of abuse if he came out as gay. 

Speaking to The Sun in an interview published on Monday (27 January), the former referee said: “I felt a deep sense of shame during my teenage years in particular.

“I didn’t come out to my parents until I was 21. I didn’t come out to my friends until I was 25.”

Referencing his alleged drug use, he explained: “My sexuality isn’t the only reason that led me to be in that position. But I’m not telling an authentic story if I don’t say that I’m gay, and that I’ve had real struggles dealing with hiding that.

“I hid my emotions as a young ref and I hid my sexuality as well – a good quality as a referee but a terrible quality as a human being.

“And that’s led me to a whole course of behaviours.”

David Coote was suspended from his job in October 2024 after a leaked video showed him calling then-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp a “c**t”, with news of alleged drug use emerging shortly after. 

The former referee explained that he is now sober, and that he had taken drugs in order to deal with the “pressure cooker” of work, losing his mother in 2023, and hiding his sexuality. 

“I don’t recognise myself in the cocaine video,” he said. “I can’t resonate with how I felt then, but that was me.”

He continued: “It was one of the escape routes I had. Just getting away from the stresses, the relentlessness of the job. It fills me with a huge sense of shame to say that I took that route.”

He added: “To other people who are in my situation, I’d say seek help and talk to somebody because if you bottle it up like I have done it has to come out in some way.”

‘A lot more to be done’ about discrimination in football

Coote explained that there is “a lot more to be done throughout football and more widely in society with regard to discrimination”, saying he had received “deeply unpleasant abuse” during his career, and didn’t want to potentially receive further abuse due to his sexuality. 

“I didn’t want to be that person that was putting their head above the parapet to be shot at, given the abuse we all get as a referee in any event,” he said. 

Amal Fashanu, niece of footballer Justin Fashanu, who ended his life after becoming the first out gay professional footballer in 1990, told The Sun that it’s “very brave” for anyone to come out, especially for “someone in the public eye”. 

“This will affect David Coote and is a big step but it should have less of an effect than it would on a player. It’s not the same level of fame,” Fashanu said, adding that football is “still failing” when it comes to support for gay or bisexual players. 

“We’d be there to offer any support and counselling,” she said, referencing the Justin Fashanu Foundation, which aims to tackle prejudice in football. 

There are currently very few male professional footballers who are out as gay or bisexual, with homophobia still rife in the sport.

In 2022, Jake Daniels became the UK’s first out male professional footballer in more than 30 years, claiming his team at the time, Blackpool, had been “absolutely amazing”, and that he’s “felt safe” sharing his authentic self with his teammates – despite previously believing he would have to “wait until I’ve retired to come out”.

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