Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - Former Premier League referee, David Coote has come out as gay two months after he was sacked.
Coote told The Sun that he turned to drugs over
fear of coming out in the 'macho world' of the Premier League.
'I felt a deep sense of shame during my teenage years, in
particular, he said. 'I didn't come out to my parents until I was 21. I didn't
come out to my friends until I was 25.'
'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.'
Coote went on to explain his battle with drugs and admitted
that he had used them as an escape.
'It's not something I was reliant on day by day, week by
week, month by month,' he said.
'I've had long periods where I've not used it - but 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.
'I don't recognise myself in the cocaine video. I can't
resonate with how I felt then, but that was me. I was struggling with the
schedule and there was no opportunity to stop. And so I found myself in that
position - escaping.'
The disgraced former referee was fired by the PGMOL last
month after the emergence of videos that landed in trouble, the first seemingly
showing the 42-year-old badmouthing Liverpool's ex-manager Jurgen
Klopp.
The PGMOL's investigation was then extended after he was
seen in another clip sniffing a white powder through a rolled-up bank note.
It was apparently taken during the summer's European
Championship.
The PGMOL found Coote's actions made his position as a
Premier League official 'untenable' and the organisation headed up by Howard
Webb terminated his employment with immediate effect.
When they sacked him in December, the PGMOL vowed to provide
Coote with support in their statement.
'David Coote's actions were found to be in serious breach of
the provisions of his employment contract, with his position deemed untenable,'
the statement read.
'Supporting David Coote continues to be important to us and
we remain committed to his welfare.'
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