Chelsea have shown their support to Blackpool youngster Jake Daniels, who has become the first professional footballer since Justin Fashanu in 1990 to come out as gay.
LGBTQ+ representation in the men's game has been non-existent since Fashanu came out. Since then, the likes of Thomas Hitzlsperger, Robbie Rogers, Collin Martin and Australian footballing pair Josh Cavallo and Andy Brennan have come out in different circumstances. Yet, there still wasn't a player currently in the UK in the professional game to have taken that brave step.
However, this brave 17-year-old has stepped forward and has done something which hopefully signifies a positive change in fan culture when it comes to acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community which has been ostracised for many decades now within English football. "Now is the right time to do it," Daniels said on Monday via The Athletic. "I feel like I am ready to tell people my story. I want people to know the real me.
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"I have been thinking for a long time about how I want to do it, when I want to do it. I know now is the time. I am ready to be myself, be free and be confident with it all." Multiple clubs in the footballing sphere and some big names in the game have already shown their support to Daniels with Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville both praising his courage on Sky Sports to make this big step which has allowed him to now not live a 'lie' anymore.
He added: "I can't really put a date on it, but I was probably five or six years old when I knew I was gay. So it's been a long time that I have been living with the lie. At that age you don't really think that football and being gay doesn't mix. You just think, one day, when I'm older I'll get a girlfriend and I will change and it will be fine.
"But as you get older you realise you can't just change. It doesn't work like that. I did have girlfriends in the past, to try and make all my mates think I was straight, but it was just a massive cover-up. In school people even used to ask me: 'Are you sure you aren't gay?'. And I would reply, 'No, I'm not'.
"I wasn't ready and it was a struggle but I just don't want to lie anymore. For a long time I've thought I would have to hide my truth because I wanted to be, and now I am, a professional footballer. I asked myself if I should wait until I've retired to come out. No other player in the professional game here is out. However, I knew that would lead to a long time of lying and not being able to be myself or lead the life that I want to."
One of the clubs to have shown their visible support is Chelsea, a side he scored against during Blackpool's FA Youth Cup tie at Stamford Bridge earlier this term, and their message to Daniels will warm hearts of supporters and organisations within the game who have been striving to make football as inclusive as possible over the years.
They tweeted under Blackpool's social media post: 'We’re proud of you, Jake! Football is for everyone. [followed by a Pride Flag emoji.]'
