Nathan Heaney thanks young fan for beautiful note

Isla, 11, gave Nathan Heaney a card thanking him for making the people of Stoke-on-Trent proud

A young girl has been thanked by a Stoke-on-Trent boxer after she gave him a card telling him how proud his city was of his achievements.

Isla and her grandfather sit near to fellow Stoke City fan Nathan Heaney at the Bet 365 Stadium, and she plucked up the courage to give him the card on Saturday.

"When I saw how happy he was, I couldn't stop smiling," said the 11-year-old, who described the British middleweight champion as an "inspiration".

Heaney shared the card on his social media accounts, and said what Isla did for him was "absolutely beautiful".

Isla also said good luck to Heaney in his next fight

The young fan said she was a little nervous when she first met him, but was quickly very excited, and the message seemed to mean a lot to him.

Heaney, who wants to stage a fight at the Bet 365 Stadium, was showing people in Stoke-on-Trent that "you can be something," she said.

The boxer has previously said that when he is fighting, he feels like he is representing his city "wholeheartedly".

He described Isla as an "incredible little person" and said she was now "a bigger star than me," as her card had been seen by almost one million people.