Blackpool’s Jake Daniels reflects on coming out, Elton John, Iker Casillas and the World Cup in Qatar

Back in May, the 17-year-old made history by becoming the first openly gay male footballer in English football since Justin Fashanu in 1990.

His announcement, which was made on Sky Sports, sparked praise from around the globe, with the likes of Prince Williams, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and England captain Harry Kane among the high-profile names to heap praise on the Blackpool-born forward.

Reflecting on the whirlwind few days afterwards, Daniels told Vogue: “I was like, ‘Jesus Christ. I feel like it still hasn’t sunk in.”

On the day the story broke, Daniels’ agent took control of his social media channels to help protect him.

“Jordan Henderson had messaged me and [my agent] screenshotted it and sent it to me. I was like, ‘uh! I want to see them all,” he added.

“Then I had a phone call from Elton John. That was crazy. I didn’t know what to say. I was just like, ‘you all right? What do I call ya?’”

Daniels has already proven inspirational for others, with Scottish footballer Zander Murray crediting the Blackpool player for his decision to come out in September.

“I’ve been inspirational but that’s not the label I should have. That’s just my life,” Daniels said.

“I want to push the community to get where it should be, especially in football and all sport.

“When I did get my Instagram back and I saw some of the messages, it was people’s mums saying, ‘you’ve made my son come out.’ That’s an impact I wanted to have.”

There is still a long way to go though. Back in September, Real Madrid and Spain great Iker Casillas caused controversy when he pretended to come out as a response to media speculation about girlfriends.

“It was clumsy and disrespectful,” Daniels said.

“Coming out is probably the hardest thing I ever had to do, so of course it hurts to see people I admired making fun of something that was so real and so difficult for me.

“If we are going to move football forwards then people need to be accountable, apologise and learn from their mistakes. I think it’s important to accept those apologies.”

Daniels certainly didn’t shy away from the big topics during the interview, tackling the issue of the upcoming World Cup being held in Qatar.

“I’m not the happiest,” he admitted.

“I know [some] people wanted to boycott it, which would have been good, but the World Cup’s massive.

“If you’re comfortable to go and do it, you do it.”

When asked if he would feel comfortably playing in a country like Qatar, Daniels concluded: “No, in my opinion, I wouldn’t.

“It would frustrate me, because why am I trying to hide my personal life for other people?

“I’m going to play football for you and you can’t respect how I want to be, so it’s just not what I want to do.”