£10,000 raised for young Swindon fan who sent note and 26p to favourite player

A fundraiser set up after a mystery young football fan sent a heartwarming letter to his favourite player has now surpassed the £10,000 mark.

The six-year-old supporter sent a note to his club Swindon Town, along with 26p for his favourite player.

"Joe," sent a letter to the Robins to laud star Harry McKirdy and sadly revealed that his mum cannot afford to bring him to matches.

An outpouring of goodwill from the football community came after Swindon shared the letter on social media, with the hope of locating Joe, explaining they wanted to get in touch but had no return address.

The youngster and his mum have yet to come forward despite massive media attention and the aforementioned post going viral.

What did you make of the outpouring of support for Joe? Have your say in the comments section

Now, a week on, the total raised has gradually risen and as of Tuesday lunchtime the figure had surpassed a whopping £10,000.

Mark Bevan, who started the fundraising page, posted a message over the weekend.

He wrote: "Blown away by everyone's support. I have a meeting with the club on Monday. Will keep you updated."

The initial target was to try and raise £1,000 but this has been smashed with 759 supporters, at the time of writing, contributing in some way.

The fundraising page's header reads: "Swindon Town FC have been contacted by a young boy called Joe who unfortunately doesn't have the privileges of being able to attend football matches!

"This is where football comes together.

"Let's all get together and fund for Joe & his family to attend a game & for Joe to be mascot for the day giving him an experience for life!"

Following the kind response to Joe's letter, Swindon announced that they would be partnering with independent supporters group Great Western Reds and the Swindon Food Collective to set up a food bank donation point at their stadium - the County Ground - and support the "great local charity."

The letter also won the heart of Swindon's rivals in League Two. Forest Green Rovers' owner Dale Vince generously offered to pay for the mystery young fan to be a mascot at the two sides' upcoming games.

Writing on Twitter, Vince posted: "If Joe can be found, we'll pay for him to be a Swindon Town mascot for our game in March - stories like this must unite fans."

The two sides are scheduled to meet in a League Two clash at the County Ground on Saturday, March 26.

Last week, Town head coach Ben Garner gave an update on the search for 'Joe'.

He said: "As far as I'm aware he hasn't been located. I think the fantastic thing, is that it's raised awareness such as foodbanks and things like that. It's doing good.

"A lot of money has been raised. Hopefully we can find him if he's out there. Football should be for everyone and we need to make sure we don't price families out of this wonderful sport."