It's the #RainbowLaces game for @ManCity this weekend. I'm doing something on @BlueMoonPodcast next week, after the match (largely because I got my dates mixed up and the stuff I prepared for this week goes out of date by then), but before the game, I've a couple of thoughts...

Across the two sets of fixtures, I don't expect we're going to see many players wearing the laces. It'd be nice if they did, but I don't really see that changing. What we are going to see is a lot of teams' social media accounts tweeting about the campaign.

I agree with @blake2108 on the homophobic responses that will inevitably be in the replies - please don't quote tweet them to call them out. Don't like or RT them for whatever reason. Starve them of oxygen and don't expose your followers to those views.

There's nothing wrong in calling them out, but please keep it to the replies. I know Twitter will push some of those replies into timelines (and there's nothing you can do about that), but keeping to replies minimises the risk.

I'd also urge club accounts (like @ManCity) to take the front foot and engage with those replies and call them out. If clubs are serious about dealing with discrimination, it'd be nice to have more than just a single tweet or social post about the campaign.

Football has a problem with many issues and homophobia and transphobia are among them. I've got experiences from various areas of the game - playing in local leagues, being in the stands at matches, on Twitter, being in a press box even.

I spoke to a couple of ex-players to find out what dressing rooms are like and one told me that "football is still quite a toxic environment" and "things need to get a lot better". Can anyone honestly say they're surprised by that?

I've got #RainbowLaces arriving hopefully in time to change my astroturf boots before I next play post-lockdown (assuming our league resumes in tier 3 restrictions). https://www.stonewall.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/rainbow-laces