THREAD Following yesterday’s post by a certain ex-footballer, here’s something from a talk I did at a BBC event recently. Clip one - what’s the difference between the two pieces of commentary here?

One is the brilliant Ian Dennis of 5live and the other is me for local radio. So what? Local v national? Would you have been able to tell that one of those commentators is gay? Or did we both commentate on the moment with a love of the game. Next…

What’s the difference here?

Apart from the crowd? Probably not a lot. Two great finishes. One in Scotland, one in the Premier League. And… Guess what? One of those footballers is gay. Does it stop him playing well and scoring for his team? Next…

Two groups of fans… the difference this time?

One lot went to watch the Champions League final in Istanbul, the others are in South Wales for Newport v Colchester. Again, would you know that one group here is full of LGBT+ supporters? Or would you just assume they’re all there to support their team.

The point is being LGBT+ doesn’t stop us reporting on, playing or watching the game with an informed opinion or love of football.

We’re not in the press box because we’re gay, it’s because we do the job well. We don’t get on the pitch because we’re gay. We’re on because we’re good players. We don’t get invited into the grounds because we’re gay. We go because we support our teams.

I actually cant believe you even needed to post this thread. But it just shows how stupid people really are. Keep up the great work, Mike.

Well said Mike, and thanks for the excuse to watch Gundo's goal over and over again....

2nd clip states they are playing in the wrong directions!! Good job it wasn’t a women that got it wrong, would be uproar!

Only because how our press box (radio and written) is on the opposite side to the camera so had to dub it over! 😂