He became a Football League referee at the start of the 2010/11 season at the age of 28, kicking off with a Johnstone Paints Trophy game between Rotherham and Lincoln at the Don Valley Stadium. He'd previously acted as a league assistant referee but in that first season he refereed 27 games including one in the Championship, that between Preston and Leicester in January 2011. Last season, in 33 games, there were seven at Championship level.
In both seasons he's averaged just under three yellow cards per game but there has been an increase in red cards. There was just one in his first season but last season he sent off seven players including Sean Scannell as his Crystal Palace side were held 1-1 at home by Leeds.
This season the yellow card average continues with 21 in seven games. Of those, nine have gone to home team players and twelve to away team players. There have also been two red cards. Scunthorpe's Josh Walker was sent off in a 2-0 defeat at Hartlepool as was Christian Jolley whose AFC Wimbledon team went down to a 1-0 home defeat against Torquay.
Coote has refereed one Championship game this season, Middlesbrough's 2-1 home win against Crystal Palace but last time out was on Saturday when he took charge of Coventry's 1-0 win at Oldham, a game that saw three yellow cards. They were Lee Croft and Cristian Montano of Oldham and Coventry's David McGoldrick.
The assistant referees tonight are Michael Salisbury (Lancashire) and Peter Wright (Merseyside). The fourth official is Kevin Mattocks (Lancashire).
Source: FOOTYMAD
