Online Reporter
SACKED referee David Coote has revealed he turned to cocaine over fear of coming out in the “macho world” of the Premier League.
Tearful Coote said he took coke to “escape” after being forced to hide being gay.
Coote also admitted he was “not sober” in his rant at ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, and got abuse and death threats as a ref.
The sacked 42-year-old told how living a lie led him down paths that eventually torpedoed his career.
Coote told The Sun: “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.
“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.”
He says he has been in an “incredibly dark place” since news emerged of his drug-taking at Euro 2024. Without the support of family and colleagues, he added, “I’m not sure I’d be here today”.
Giving his first interview since the scandal broke, he said he hoped to help break down the “macho world” of Premier League football.
He added: “I’ve had issues around my self-esteem — and that relates to my sexuality.
I’m gay and I’ve struggled with feeling proud of being ‘me’ over a long period of time.
“I have received deeply unpleasant abuse during my career as a ref and to add my sexuality to that would have been really difficult.
“There’s a lot to be done throughout football and more widely in society with regard to discrimination.
“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.”
Coote was suspended last October after footage showed him calling then-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp a “c***”.
The Sun then revealed a film of him snorting powder at last summer’s Euros in Germany.
We also told how he tried to arrange a drugs party during Spurs’ Carabao Cup win over Man City on October 30.
Coote was then the subject of a new FA probe over allegedly issuing a yellow card to order — before he was eventually fired.
In an emotional interview, he says a “pressure cooker” of suppressed emotion, combined with a punishing work schedule, left him wanting to “escape” with cocaine.
He said: “It’s not something I was reliant on day by day, week by week, month by month. — Sun.
