A Twitter user who claimed to be an anonymous Championship footballer intending to come out as gay has appeared to reverse his decision after admitting he is “not strong enough to do this”.

Having previously declared his intention to hold a press conference on Wednesday where he would reveal his identity after a series of tweets that had detailed his experiences, the user @FootballerGay posted two messages on Tuesday evening before deleting the account which had amassed more than 50,000 followers.

“I thought I was stronger. I was wrong,” read the first, quickly followed by a more detailed explanation before the account was deleted.

“Call me all the names under the sun, belittle me and ridicule me, a lot will, and I can’t change that, but I’m not strong enough to do this. Just remember that I’ve got feelings, without coming out I can’t convince anybody otherwise, but this isn’t a hoax. I wouldn’t do that.”

Former England striker Gary Lineker and Burton Albion forward Marvin Sordell were among those to express publicly their support for the player, who is believed to be under the age of 23 and currently playing at a Championship club. Justin Fashanu remains the only British male player to have publicly come out while playing in the Football League, in 1990.