The Manchester United star gave his sweat-stained No 7 top to Murty at the end of his side's hard-fought 2-0 win at the Madejski Stadium, with the Royals skipper hanging it on his dressing room peg while he took a shower.

But when he returned, the shirt was gone - prompting some choice words from the Scotland international: "Someone's had it away and when I find out who it is, it's going to be bloody," he vowed. "It's either a player, an apprentice or a member of staff but when I find out who it is there are going to be broken legs.

"I know who my list of suspects are. I've played against Ronaldo before but he was the nearest player to me. I said, 'Can I have your shirt?' and he said, 'Yeah, I'm knackered' but the moment I came back from the shower, the shirt had gone."

But it can be revealed that it was Hunt who was the culprit, with the Irishman living upto his cheeky reputation by hiding the shirt in a - successful - bid to wind up his skipper.

"It was pretty funny really," said Reading goalkeeper and Sportsmail columnist Marcus Hahnemann. "Murts was looking for it everywhere, but Hunty finally came clean and gave it back to him in the players' bar afterwards. And probably just in time!"