The chief executive of Manchester United's charity arm has apologised and said he is 'mortified' after joking to Alessia Russo that he wouldn't hand over her the club's Women's Player of the Year trophy because it was 'too heavy'.
Russo scooped the prize during the club's glitzy end-of-season award ceremony on Monday night after an excellent season in which she scored 12 goals in all competitions as United narrowly missed out on their inaugural WSL title.
But there was an awkward moment when she was up on stage with the Manchester United Foundation's chief executive John Shiels.