Revealed: David Coote confided in former Scottish footballer back in 2022

Former footballer Zander Murray has revealed that David Coote reached out to him back in 2022 after he first came out as gay.  

Coote was dismissed as a Premier League referee in December 2024 after the emergence of videos earlier in the year that saw him call ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp ‘a German ****’.

Footage also emerged alleging to show him 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. 

However in an exclusive interview with The Sun earlier this week, Coote revealed that he turned to drugs over fear of coming out in the ‘macho world’ of the Premier League.

In the wake of his brave announcement, though, Murray – the first Scottish footballer to come out as gay three years ago – told talkSPORT that Coote had been quick to offer his own support back in 2022. 

David Coote admits he turned to drugs as a way to escape from the stresses of his job

The former referee has come out as gay in an emotional interview a month after being sacked 

‘David reached out to me when I came out, when I was getting a bit of media onslaught, when I was getting homophobic abuse on social media,’ Murray revealed.

‘I was just reading through the messages again and there’s no doubt about it, he resonated with my story back then and he was really, really struggling with his own sexuality back then.

‘Fast forward to now, what he’s done is obviously a huge error and a huge mistake and he’s been punished for that.

‘The abuse that he’s getting, obviously the first onslaught and then now the homophobic abuse and threats, I think is absolutely disgusting.

‘Now people are asking whether he is lying or is he just doing that to just make it easy for him.

‘He was one of the first people to reach out to me and he definitely voiced that he was struggling with his own sexuality and using a vice for that, whether that be alcohol or drugs, I completely understand that because I’ve been in that position as well.’

Murray came through the ranks at Motherwell before dropping down the Scottish football pyramid.

In total, before hanging up his boots in summer last year, the centre forward scored 11 goals in 41 games in his career, including three strikes in the Scottish FA Cup.

Murray scored 11 goals in 41 games before hanging up his boots at the end of 2023-24 

When the PGMOL sacked Coote last month, they vowed to provide him with support

In one leaked video, Coote made disparaging remarks about ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp

Coote began his refereeing journey at the age of 14 before working his way up the system

Coote says that he feels a deep sense of regret and doesn’t recognise himself in the videos

Murray went on to add that while he has not maintained close contact with Coote in the years since, he could vouch for the fact that the former top-flight referee has ‘immensely struggled’ for ‘a long, long time’.

In his emotional interview with The Sun this week, Coote explained the ‘shame’ he felt in his adolescence and how he would hide his emotions. 

‘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. 

Coote then added that he could not even ‘recognise’ himself in the video that appeared to show him sniffing cocaine. 

‘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.’