Jake Daniels coming out will have huge impact, says Justin Fashanu’s niece Amal

Gay footballers currently playing in the Premier League may wait to see how Jake Daniels is received on the pitch next season before deciding whether to come out themselves, Justin Fashanu’s niece has said.

Seventeen-year-old Blackpool forward Daniels came out publicly on Monday, becoming the first openly gay footballer in Britain to do so while still playing since Fashanu in 1990.

Fashanu’s niece Amal, the founder of the Justin Fashanu Foundation and who made a 2012 BBC Three documentary called Britain’s Gay Footballers, says she knows a number of current top-flight players who are gay but reluctant to come out, all for their own reasons.

“For one player it might be about showing weakness, one might be that his family are religious, one might be the fact that his agent or his manager or his club aren’t pro gay,” Fashanu told the PA news agency.

“The impact of (Daniels) coming out will be huge. Even though he’s young, this is starting the road map. Now it’s a case of waiting to see how everyone reacts. When he’s playing, will everyone boo him? What’s going to happen?

“Putting myself in their shoes, and the fact that I do know gay footballers in the Premier League, let’s put it this way – if I was them I would definitely wait.

“It’s very important to continue to allow these players to actually see the goodness and the positive news that’s coming from this and for them to be at home and think to themselves ‘OK, I might actually be a higher-profile player (than Daniels) but look at the way he’s been welcomed and the way the fans and the people have reacted. Maybe it’s actually worth it, because it’s better to be out and suffering five per cent than 100 per cent’.”

Justin Fashanu felt his career was blighted by the fact he