Former Premier League referee David Coote pleads guilty to making indecent image of a child | OneFootball

Former Premier League referee David Coote has pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to making an indecent image of a child.

The former official appeared in court on Tuesday in connection with an allegation relating to a category A video, the most serious kind, recovered by officers in February.

The 43-year-old, who wore a navy suit and a black tie, spoke only to confirm his name and enter his plea during the hearing in front of Judge Nirmal Shant KC.

Coote, of Woodhill Road in Collingham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, was granted conditional bail by Judge Shant and told he must appear in court again on 11 December.

The judge told Coote, who stood in the dock with his hands clasped in front of him, that she was ordering a pre-sentence report to be carried out.

She said: “You have pleaded guilty to a serious matter. Whether this means custody or not will be decided when all the information is before the court, which is why I have ordered a pre-sentence report.”

A number of devices were seized and analysed when Coote was arrested at his home, and the category A video was found.

Former Premier League referee David Coote has pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court (PA)

Coote, who previously pleaded not guilty to the charge, was told that his bail conditions include not having unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, and not to live at an address with anyone under that age.

The charge of making an indecent image of a child refers to activities such as downloading, sharing or saving photos or videos of abuse. The allegation against Coote relates to a video recovered by officers from Nottinghamshire Police in February before Coote was charged on 12 August, the force said.

Coote was sacked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited in December 2024 after a video of comments he had made about ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in 2020 came to light.

In August this year he was given an eight-week suspension by the Football Association over the Klopp footage.

In January, Coote came out as gay in an interview with The Sun and said a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rant about Klopp.