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John Fashanu, the former Wimbledon striker turned TV personality, aired his feelings about his brother, who was the first professional football player to come out as gay, in an interview with talkSPORT.

John said ‘If you had a brother who came out and said, “Hey listen, I’m gay” we’d welcome you, say “No problem” but if you had someone who came out and said, “I’m a spaceman” when you’re not a spaceman then that’s a bit silly.

‘It’s a macho man’s game and I think there are reasons why we haven’t had any gay footballers come out… I don’t believe there will be. I’m not saying there aren’t some there, but I can tell you in twenty years of playing all my matches I have never come across a gay footballer.

Amal Fashnu, John’s 23-year-old daughter and Justin’s neice, believes football failed her uncle and contributing factor to his suicide. Filming for a BBC documentary called Britain’s Gay Footballers, Amal said “I learned Justin was no angel, but he genuinely believed he was setting an example to other players facing discrimination. Sadly, it's an example no other gay player has felt able to follow in nearly 25 years… In the 14 years since his death, no one has been brave enough to follow in his footsteps. There are about 5,000 professional footballers in the country, yet incredibly not a single one of them has come out as gay. I’m proud Justin was my uncle and that he was brave enough to say what he did.”

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