SOUTHEND United’s kit man has apologised profusely after posting online abuse aimed at a ten-year-old Sheffield United fan who is in remission from cancer.

Sarah Davies, 40, from Sheffield, had proudly posted a video of her son Max on Twitter and was ecstatic when Facebook page Away Day Bible asked if they could share a video of the ten-year-old singing at a football match.

Ms Davies proudly posts videos of Max online, but didn’t expect to get explicit abuse from someone who works at another club.

But Blues kit man Gary Watson, replied to the video by posting: “Try singing instead of shouting you stupid little ****”.

Since then, Mr Watson has posted a heartfelt apology on his Facebook page. It reads: “I am truly sorry for the hurtful comment that I made on the thread on the football forum. It was wrong, insensitive and very low of me as a person. I should have read the post fully before putting any comment on it, but it is still unacceptable that I would even think about posting any comment.”

However, Ms Davies said: “If he hadn’t worked for a football club, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Max loves football so I decided to film him when he started singing the song at the beginning of a match and I put it on Twitter, where it was getting a lot of likes. It got shared quite a lot and then Away Day Bible asked if they could share the video on Facebook.

“It got even more likes and comments, even rival clubs left really nice messages about Max. Except for the odd message, and then I came across this one.”

Max was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and has been in remission for four years. Ms Davies added: “It clearly says it on the post so there are no excuses.”

Ms Davies has spoken to club chairman Ron Martin and she said he told her he would be speaking to Mr Watson.