Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford believes an openly gay Premier League player would be embraced in the dressing room - but says there is still work to do in eradicating homophobic abuse from the crowd.
Bamford, 28, spoke in Channel 4's 'Football's Coming Out' documentary, released on Tuesday, in which he said that 'nothing should change' in a dressing room if a team-mate decided to come out as gay.
At present there remains no openly gay players active in the Premier League.
Leeds United footballer Patrick Bamford has spoken in a new documentary for Channel 4
Bamford believes Leeds' dressing room would be totally supportive if a player came out as gay
Sharing his thoughts on how a player might go about the process of coming out as LGBTQ+ and how he and fellow players in his team might react, Bamford said: 'I would imagine that if someone were to come out as gay, a player would go to the captain and confide in the captain. The captain would then bring everyone together and then tell everyone the news.
'I know in our changing room, I don't think there would be too much of a reaction. It shouldn't be that big of an issue in this day and age.
'I would let them know that if they have any worries or issues, if they need to talk to someone then I am here to talk to. Don't think just because you've come out that anything has changed. We're still mates. Nothing should change.'
Earlier this month Daniel Hutchings, an analyst at League Two side Stevenage, came out but there are no openly gay players in the Premier League or the Football League, and the only openly gay player in any top-flight division in the world is Adelaide United's Josh Cavallo.
Cavallo recently took to his Instagram page to condemn homophobic crowd abuse he received during an A-League match against Melbourne Victory earlier this month.
Bamford conceded that any player in the upper echelons of English football that is considering coming out as gay will likely worry most about reaction from fans, rather than team-mates or coaches.
