THE Football Association is investigating a claim by a disabled Bury fan that he was sworn at and verbally abused by an official of a rival soccer club.

Although 26-year-old Ben Miles did receive an apology from the chief executive of Macclesfield Town, he demanded that the club's former fitness coach Duncan Russell contact him personally to say sorry.

But after waiting for more than a month for an apology, the loyal Shakers supporter has now asked the FA to intervene. Since the incident, which happened after the Bury-Macclesfield clash at Gigg Lane in March, Russell has left the club.

Ben suffers from arthrogryposis,a growth defect of the hands and feet which requires him to wear surgical boots.

He said: "At the Macclesfield game, I was sitting virtually behind the dug-out. When they scored, Paul Ince put both fists into the air and I felt he was trying to wind up the Bury fans. At the time I was het up by his actions, although I now understand it was a heat of the moment thing."

After the match Ben went to the players' entrance hoping to talk to Ince. "I wanted to say I was disappointed with his attitude."

Ben says their fitness coach Duncan Russell, emerged and Ben asked about the earlier actions of his manager.

"He suddenly whirled round and began swearing at me and came out with all sorts of stuff," he said. "There was an exchange of words and I foolishly told him to kiss my a-,'" added Ben. He said Russell looked at Ben's hands and feet before making a disparaging remark about his appearance.

Ben emailed a complaint to Macclesfield's chief executive Patrick Nelson who apologised and said he would speak to Russell once he returned home.

Ben said: "Later, Mr Nelson said he'd spoken to Russell who admitted that an incident took place and didn't deny what I'd told him. Mr Nelson did apologise on his behalf. But I replied this wasn't good enough and that I wanted an apology from the guy himself.

"All I want is an apology. I'm not after compensation or anything else. His attitude that day was diabolical and I don't want the same thing to happen to anyone else."

A spokesman for the FA confirmed that they had received Ben's complaint. "Investigations at this stage are ongoing," he added.

Mr Russell was approached by the Bury Times but he declined to comment.