English football is ready to welcome gay players, according to campaigners

The time is right for gay Premier League stars to come out, according to anti-discrimination campaigners.

The Mirror are reporting that two Premier League players, including an England international, are preparing to make public their homosexuality before next season and Kick it Out chairman Lord Ouseley believes the pair would be best to make their announcement simultaneously.

“I think it is a good time for someone to come out because organisations like my own and others, which work with gay and lesbian communities, would be supportive," he told the Telegraph. “We’ve seen this happen in some other sports and, although football is seen as quite different, I think it’s a time when we should be able to demonstrate that support. “Unless you test the waters, you can’t be certain. But I think there enough people in the game now that would be willing to see their organisations demonstrate support for people being able to express, in an open way, their sexuality.”

Thomas Hitzlsperger last year became the first former Premier League star to come out but English football, perhaps scarred by the suicide of Justin Fashanu 17 years ago, is still well behind other sports in its attitudes to homosexuality. In Ireland former Cork goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack came out while still playing at the highest level, with Cork ladies footballer Valerie Mulcahy doing likewise earlier this year.