YOU may have heard the captain of Celtic say over the weekend that he and his team would support a player who was gay. You may also have seen the tweets of someone called “the gay footballer” who said he was about to go public. But don’t think any of this means we’re about to see an openly gay star in the men’s game, or that football is on the verge of a breakthrough. We’re not and it isn’t. Men’s football still has a serious problem with sex and sexuality.

I know this because I’ve dealt with some of the people involved. A while ago, I spent several months, through a friend, trying to convince a player with a Scottish premiership side to speak to me publicly about his sexuality. He appeared to be open to persuasion, but in the end he decided it just wasn’t worth the heartache.

What was particularly interesting is that the player’s team-mates and other players, the managers, and other staff, including my friend, all knew about his sexuality and were fine with it. Which leaves only one reason not to go public: the fans.

READ MORE: What it's like to be a gay football fan in Scotland in 2019

Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here: I’m not suggesting everyone in football management is cool with being gay – even now, most managers are older, working-class men who are often the last to adapt to changing social attitudes. I’ve also spoken to a former youth coach who said he was told by a premiership side he couldn’t be employed with them because of his sexuality.

However, it’s obvious that, on the whole, attitudes to sexuality within football have been changing and players and staff are generally much more open on the subject (no doubt, some have misgivings in private but as long as they keep quiet, it amounts to the same result).

The reaction of players has also possibly always been exaggerated. Karren Brady, the former boss of Birmingham City, said the other day that her husband, Paul Peschisolido, had played with Justin Fashanu in the 1990s and no one in the dressing room had a problem with him being gay.

The point is that, whether Karren Brady is right or not about the 90s, attitudes in the game have been improving, just as they have in society generally. There are several clubs in the UK now that have gay players who are honest about their sexuality within the team and even take their partners to club events – they are just not open about it in public.

The Celtic captain Scott Brown was also clearly being honest when he said he would be supportive to a team-mate who was gay. And even players at Millwall (never the most metrosexual of clubs) have said it doesn’t matter if a team-mate is gay. As one football commentator put it to me: other players wouldn’t give a ****.

READ MORE: English men’s game could soon have its first openly gay professional player 

The problem is that some fans are unlikely to feel the same way. Recently, my colleague Neil Cameron spoke to one of the players with the LGBT team HotScots FC, Craig Anderson, who said there have been times when the homophobic abuse he’s heard at games has made him wonder whether football is the game for him. I’ve also spoken to some of the HotScots players myself and they pretty much all say the same thing: in the changing room, sexuality is not a problem; out in the stadium among some of the fans, it still is.

It’s interesting to speculate on what the reasons for this might be. One theory that amuses me is that the fans who are most vocal with homophobic abuse are trying to come to terms with the fact they love a game that idolises physically fit young men. A game like football in which the players are so uninhibited about kissing and touching each other should be the least homophobic of all, but some male fans may struggle with that, so they shout about poofs and queers to try to prove to the rest of us that they’re not interested in the sight of players kissing and hugging other men. But we’re on to them. We know they secretly love it.

The idea that homophobia in football might be a problem with specific types of men rather than fans more generally is also borne out by the recent women’s world cup. Men’s professional football has virtually no openly gay players, but the women’s game is the opposite – it is full of out gay women at the highest level.

And even the homophobia the female players experience confirms this is really a male problem we’re talking about: some fans like to assume all female players are lesbians because they think football is essentially a man’s sport and any woman who wants to play it must “want to be a man”.

Unfortunately, there is only one way to tackle this. Players can, and should, do positive interviews like the one Scott Brown did at the weekend. Football clubs can also prove how open they are, as Partick Thistle did recently with their kit inspired by the LGBT rainbow flag. But sadly, none of it will be enough to change the attitude of fans – that will only happen when the first British professional player in the premier league goes public about his sexuality.

Are we getting closer to that point? You might think the tweets from “the gay footballer” prove we are. The tweeter said he was a professional player and would go public at the end of July. However, he then deleted the account which must obviously raise doubts about its authenticity. It also disappointed a lot of football fans because they know the game needs its first openly gay player.

Whoever that player ends up being, he will definitely get abuse and there will be a backlash from some fans, and possibly players on other teams. But until someone openly challenges the homophobia in football by being openly gay, the homophobia will not go away.

I realise that’s a lot for one person to take on and he will have to be a pretty extraordinary person. But after it has happened, others will follow. Gay players will then become more visible. They will then be just part of the team. And finally homophobia in football will become socially unacceptable.

It will also become a little ridiculous. Why would you scream abuse at someone who’s good? Why would you hate someone who’s brilliant at the game you love?