A unique footballing bond has been born this week, between League One Reading and Saturday's opponents Port Vale.

After just 16 minutes, the match was abandoned in protest against owner Dai Yongge.

Despite travelling hours and spending hard-earned money to travel from Staffordshire to Berkshire, the majority of the 800 who had made the journey applauded and joined in with chants.

Grateful for the support, with handshakes and mutual claps during the protest, Royals fans wanted to show their support to their Valliant counterparts.

Port Vale Supporters' Club had set up a GoFundMe to raise £100,000 for a statue of iconic former manager John Rudge, who has been associated with Vale for over 30 years.

Mark Porter, chairman of the supporters club, commented: "We’d got a couple of hundred quid, and I just wanted to put a message out to thank everyone, not realising that within 15 minutes it had 7,000 views. This is not what I thought. It’s had 36,000 views. It’s amazing.

"The football clubs might be owned by somebody, but they are heritage brands that belong to the towns and cities. I just find it so sad. The football world is behind you. The fact they have donated that much for our statue is unbelievable. Our supporters club committee can’t believe it. I am astounded by it and we can’t thank them enough. From Port Vale, we stand with Reading."

Mr Rudge himself, who also had a long association with near-neighbours Stoke City, got in touch with the Reading Chronicle and wanted to thank Royals supporters for their 'unbelievable generosity' and added that he was 'blown away' with the Reading fans.

Sarah Turner, Chair of the Supporters Trust at Reading, added: "STAR are delighted to donate to the John Rudge appeal.  We are very grateful for the understanding and support that their fans showed to us on Saturday.  We thought the idea of donating to the statue was a lovely thought."

If you want to donate, click here.