Hundreds of Everton fans mistakenly hail an American actress as their new player Ashley Williams
Twitter page of 'How I Met Your Mother' star flooded with messages of congratulations
An American actress has been inundated with messages of congratulations from Everton fans - because she has the same name as their new player .
Supporters of the Toffees tweeted to actress Ashley, best known for playing Victoria on the US sitcom How I Met Your Mother, after mistaking her Twitter handle for a very different Ashley Williams - their new £12million defender and Wales captain.
The comedy star was surprised, but began replying to as many of the supporters as possible, adding "I've literally never been so popular."
When she finally discovered the reason behind her new army of fans, she was more than happy to play along, tweeting "Dinner's on me! #soccerstar" with a picture of her namesake.
She was then quick to capitalise on the situation, inviting Everton fans to check out her new comedy series.
Wales captain Ashley, 31, signed for Everton on Tuesday in a £12million move from Swansea City, and supporters were keen to welcome the defender to their club.
But problems soon arose - because Williams is not on Twitter.
So confused fans sent messages to a verified account with a similar name - @imthesmash - by mistake.
Related Stories
It would have been easy for the sitcom actress to ignore the dozens of "Welcome to Everton, Ashley!" messages.
But the good humoured star tried to reply to as many as possible.
To one she said: "You are the best!! I'm an actress and an enthusiastic soccer player, but not a good one."
And to another fan she wrote: "Don't unfollow me because I'm a late thirties actress on TV and not a kickass soccer player!"
Everton fan magazine Toffee News got in on the action and wrote to her saying: "Wait we didn't sign you? I'm a little disappointed really."
Her response was excellent: "I'm more than happy to take the money, tho! I'll sign whatever you need."
And once the fans realised their mistake, even more decided to join the fun.
Looks like the actress won't be moving to Merseyside any time soon, but it's always fun to see new people being introduced to a bit of team pride.