The former Hitchin Town footballer at the centre of the Twitter trolling scandal has vowed to accept whatever punishment the FA hand out to him.

Alfie Barker has been charged with misconduct by the FA after he sent abusive tweets to AFC Bournemouth footballer Harry Arter about his stillborn daughter during his side’s match with Arsenal on Tuesday, January 3.

The promising youngster, who now has an agent, had dual registration with Hitchin Town and Codicote and was playing for The Cod when both sides sacked him by cancelling the registration after his abusive outburst.

Alfie’s father Danny spoke to the Comet, saying: “Alfie is very happy to accept any form of punishment the FA hand out to him.

“He knows he made a mistake and has already reached out to the national stillbirth charity Sands and offered to spend time with them volunteering.

“He is so sorry for what happened.”

Hitchin Town are holding another of their ‘pay what you what’ matches for their game with Cirencester this Saturday – with collections being held for Sands.