The broadcaster Jeff Stelling’s dispute with Hartlepool United has escalated, with the chair, Raj Singh, writing to the other National League clubs asking them to ban the former Sky Sports presenter from their boardrooms.
Stelling resigned as honorary president of Hartlepool in May in protest at Singh’s handling of negotiations over the sale of the club, which Singh had put on the market more than two years earlier.
Singh appears to have hit back by seeking to ensure that Stelling is denied hospitality at Hartlepool’s away matches, which begin at Yeovil on Saturday.
“You may be aware from media coverage that Jeff Stelling has resigned as Honorary President of Hartlepool United Football Club,” Singh wrote in a letter sent last week and seen by the Guardian. “As Chairman of Hartlepool United Football Club I would kindly and considerately ask that Mr Stelling is therefore not provided with official HUFC dignitary spaces in your Board Room, or equivalent, for any Hartlepool United fixture at your home ground.
“In the unlikely event that Mr Stelling independently attends any Hartlepool United fixture at your home ground, I’d further request that you consider to seat Mr Stelling separately to any HUFC dignitaries or staff.”
Stelling resigned after it became clear that a consortium’s proposed takeover was not progressing. The group led by the local businesswoman Shirley Hammond is understood to have grown frustrated that talks have stalled.
“I know this is only an honorary role, but it is the best way I felt I could protest against the treatment of the party trying to take control of the club,” Stelling said when he resigned. “Supporters have been left in an intolerable position with a perceived threat to the future of the club should they not support the current owner.”
Singh has since proposed holding a vote among season-ticket holders over whether he should stay in charge, although that has yet to take place.
Stelling is a lifelong Hartlepool fan who often used his position as host of Sky Sports’ live scores and results programme, Soccer Saturday, which he presented for 29 years until 2023, to promote the club. In 2016 he was appointed as the club’s honorary president in place of Peter Mandelson, who was MP for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004.
Singh saved Hartlepool from liquidation when buying the then League Two club and investing £1.8m, but the club have struggled in recent seasons. The Teesside-based care-home owner put the club up for sale after their relegation from the Football League at the end of the 2022-23 season.
Singh declined to comment, but a Hartlepool spokesperson told the Guardian: “Since Mr Stelling no longer holds any position – honorary or otherwise – in the club, but has indicated his intention to attend away games, the club has informed other clubs in the league that he is not attending on behalf of Hartlepool United Football Club.”
Stelling declined to comment.
