FORMER Manchester City stars Earl Barrett and Andy Hinchcliffe are among a panel of guests who will meet in Sale on Thursday to discuss the scope, scale and history of homophobic abuse in football.

The event comes as part of the game’s commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history month, running throughout February, as part of a range of activities celebrating gay and lesbian involvement in sport is taking place.

Ex-England international Barrett, now working for Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion campaign, said: “During my playing days, challenging discrimination was mainly focused around racism. When I think back to what players such as Danny Wallace and John Barnes had to experience, things have certainly moved on.

“Nowadays, narrow-mindedness still exists on the terraces, in the boardroom and in the studio, as we’ve seen recently, and homophobia is a problem the game is slowly getting to grips with.

“There are no openly gay players, homophobic chanting exists, and so we need to dig deeper to examine why professional football remains unwelcoming to this community.”

Barrett and Hinchcliffe will be joined by former Charlton Athletic winger and Professional Footballers Association (PFA) representative, Michael Bennett, Jason McCauley from Village Manchester and Lou Englefield of Pride Sports.

Kicking off at 7pm at Sale’s Waterside Arts Centre, entrance is free and all are welcome.