Phillip Schofield has praised 'amazing' footballer Jake Daniels after he came out as gay.
The 17-year-old Blackpool striker is the first British male footballer to come out publicly since Justin Fashanu, and he says he hopes that his decision to go public about his sexuality will encourage others from within the game who are hesitant to do the same.
Discussing Jake's statement on Tuesday's episode of This Morning, father-of-two Phillip shared his hopes for the young sports star.
Phillip, 60, came out as gay in February 2020 during an emotional interview with co-host Holly Willoughby on the This Morning sofa.
Speaking about Jake's honesty, Phillip said: "Hats off to Jake, we think you're amazing.
"What's important now, and this may be very naive, I think he will have an amazing amount of support, help and care within his own football community. That his football mates, his football club, all enormously supportive. You see the tweets from other football players saying, 'what you've done is incredible'.
"What you've gotta hope now... football is such a family, it's tribal, it's a family. What you want now is for that tribal family now to show an enormous amount of support," Phillip continued.
"Of course there's always going to be sort of ribbing people and having a go, but this is the time to say, 'let's not go for him on the pitch'."
After watching a clip of Jake's refreshing interview, Phillip remarked: "I wish I was that eloquent at 17!"
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV and ITV Hub.
