Harry Kane invites trolled Spurs fan to be mascot

  • Published
Media caption,

The tables turned on the online trolls

Tottenham striker Harry Kane has invited a fan subjected to online abuse to be a mascot at the club's last Premier League match of the season.

Neil Markham posted a video of his daughter Ella dancing at the club's new stadium after Spurs lost to West Ham.

As a result Ella and her father received a slew of online abuse from fans upset about the result.

But that was followed by messages of support that Mr Markham said left him "overwhelmed".

On Saturday Mr Markham, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, posted a video of Ella dancing at the stadium on Twitter with the caption "the result is never the most important thing".

After posting the video Ella, who has Down's syndrome, was ridiculed online, and Mr Markham was also subjected to abuse for posting the video.

He said: "Ella was being called all sorts of names, [people were] laughing at her in terms of the way she was dancing and the way she looked.

"I was getting abuse in terms of having a child with Down's syndrome."

But Mr Markham said the response from people in support of Ella "has been absolutely phenomenal".

Most importantly for Ella, her favourite player Harry Kane sent his own video of support to the family.

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post by Lilywhite Spurs

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post by Lilywhite Spurs

In it he said: "I just want to thank you for your amazing support. Your family are proud of you as well.

"We know you're a big fan and we'd love for you to come down and be a mascot for the last game of the season.

"Keep dancing and keep doing what you're doing, lots of love."

A Tottenham Hotspur spokesperson confirmed Ella would be a mascot at Spurs' final Premier League game against Everton on 12 May.

They added the club was doing all it could "to identify those responsible for these posts and take the appropriate action".