A teenage referee says disgraced former Premier League official David Coote tried to 'groom' him and feared he wanted to 'abuse' him.
It comes after Coote pleaded guilty this week of making a 'category A' indecent image of a child, for which he could face 10 years behind bars.
Coote was sacked by the referees' body PGMOL in December.
Now a teenage ref says Coote messaged him out of the blue offering to be a mentor, calling him a 'good looking lad' and offering to pay his university accommodation fees.
He told The Sun that he felt that he may have been trying to groom him.