Ex-EPL referee David Coote pleads guilty to child indecent image offence
Former Premier League referee David Coote has pleaded guilty to making an indecent image of a child.
The 43-year-old appeared at Nottingham Crown Court over an allegation relating to a category A video, the most serious type, recovered by police in February.
Coote, from Woodhill Road, Collingham, Nottinghamshire, was granted conditional bail ahead of his sentencing scheduled for 11 December.
Read Also: Former Premier League referee David Coote reveals struggles with sexuality
Judge Nirmal Shant KC ordered a pre-sentence report and warned Coote that custody remained a strong possibility.
“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,” the judge said.
The former referee previously pleaded not guilty to the charge during a hearing on 10 September at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.
At Tuesday’s brief six-minute hearing, Coote, dressed in a navy suit and black tie, spoke only to confirm his name and enter his guilty plea.
The charge of making an indecent image of a child covers activities such as downloading, saving, or sharing explicit material involving children.
Judge Shant further warned:
“You must not go away with the impression that this will not lead to a custodial sentence.”
Coote, once a regular fixture in the English Premier League, was dismissed last year after comments he made in a resurfaced 2020 video about former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp came to light.
In August 2025, he received an eight-week suspension from the Football Association over the same incident.
Earlier this year, in January, Coote publicly came out as gay in an interview with The Sun, revealing that years of concealing his sexuality had contributed to the frustration behind his controversial comments about Klopp.
