Connell said: ‘I am immensely proud to see this happen. I have been campaigning against homophobia in football for the best part of 12 years and spent the first seven or eight feeling very frustrated trying to get people to realise there was an issue so for me to see these things happening is fantastic.

‘As a season-ticket holder at Chelsea I am delighted to see the club support the creation of a LGBT fan group, making Chelsea LGBT fans feel truly welcome at the club they support.

‘The fan groups differ from club to club but what we want to do here is set up a committee to run things and start welcoming members from near and far.

‘We want to work with the club to help the local LGBT community and make LGBT fans feel welcome, as it is a game we all love dearly regardless of sexuality.’

The group can be contacted via chelsea@gfsn.org, twitter @chelseaGFSN or via the website www.gfsn.org.uk