Robbie Williams dons SAFC football shirt while training with Sunderland's Tony Jeffries

The shirts have been personalised with their names printed on the back and they posed for photos with the caption ‘football friends.’

Tony Jeffries told fans he has been having a great time training Robbie for three weeks while Robbie is on the Vegas leg of his tour at The Wynn from Friday, June 28 to Saturday, July 6, a far cry from the Stadium of Light where he performed as part of his Take That reunion tour in 2011.

A spokesperson for Sunderland football club said: “Tony is a big Sunderland fan. He keeps in regular contact with us and attends games when he’s back home.

“We were going to send him a couple of the latest shirts, however a member of our staff was travelling out to Las Vegas, so took them to present personally.”

It isn’t the first time that he has been found training with Robbie. Tony spent time with him at his home in Beverly Hills in January. The two have now made a habit of sparring together.

Sunderland’s own, Tony Jeffries made a new life for himself in America as a fitness coach with his own gym.

He now owns and works at Box 'N Burn boxing gym in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, with Kentucky fitness expert Kevan Watson. He has continued his success in the states but is always fond of supporting his home-town football team.