Unbelievable, Jeff! Hartlepool's beef with Stelling is a baffling business

The Guardian

4 days ago

You come at the Stelling you'd best not miss, as the famous quote from The Wire's Omar Little kind of goes. Feared by his enemies and loved by viewers, the scar-faced stick-up man's advice suggests that anyone attempting to challenge the established order should be prepared for unpleasant consequences if their plan backfires. It is a lesson Hartlepool United owner Raj Singh is currently learning the hard way after sending a letter to each of Hartlepool's fellow National League clubs asking them to ban Jeff Stelling – the TalkSport and former Soccer Saturday host, and national treasure – from their boardrooms and hospitality suites for the season ahead. In scenes that his chum Chris Kamara would almost certainly describe as 'Unbelievable, Jeff!' (unless they in some way involved an Anthony Vanden Borre red card at Fratton Park), Stelling resigned from his role as president of Hartlepool in May, in protest at Singh's handling of negotiations over the protracted non-sale of his beloved hometown club.
Apparently still fuming over Stelling's decision to step down from an honorary role in which he wielded the same amount of power as your average regimental goat, Singh recently embarked on a letter-writing campaign to call upon his fellow owners to deny Stelling any of the myriad lavish trappings of hospitality associated with cash-strapped non-league clubs when he travels to Hartlepool away games. Having initially made it clear that Jeff was not to be considered for any freebies specifically designated for club officials, Singh added: 'In the unlikely event that Mr Stelling independently attends any Hartlepool fixture at your home ground, I'd further request that you consider to seat Mr Stelling separately to any HUFC dignitaries or staff.' And while nobody is denying Hartlepool has its dignitaries, it seems actual dignity is currently at a premium in their corridors of power.
Football Daily doesn't claim to be familiar with the nitty-gritty of the beef, but what we can say for sure is that we hope Stelling has another one of his charity walks teed up, so that he'll be able to march off the excess blubber he's certain to put on after National League clubs the length and breadth of the country fall over each other to defy what looks like a petty and sly act of vindictiveness. In calling for Stelling to be denied hospitality, Hartlepool's owner has almost certainly guaranteed that the universally popular broadcaster will be subjected to the kind of extreme levels of corporate largesse unlikely to be witnessed in the fifth tier ever again unless Manchester City end up playing in it after the verdict on those 100-plus charges is finally announced.
'I'm a lifelong supporter of that football club and if it came down to the fact that I travelled and stood with the Poolies, the Hartlepool supporters, wherever they are, then that's fine,' a slightly baffled Jeff told his radio audience. 'I'd already bought my ticket – we're away to Yeovil on Saturday – to be with the fans, so I didn't get the issue or why Mr Singh wanted to raise it. The other thing that I took offence to was in the statement he says in the unlikely event that I attend games independently. Well, I mean, last season I went to Aldershot, Eastleigh, Solihull, Southend, Sutton, Wealdstone, Woking, Dagenham and Redbridge, Ebbsfleet, Maidenhead and a few others as well, so, it's not so unlikely that I'll attend. I'll be at Yeovil on Saturday and I'll tell you what, I'll say it right now – if Mr Singh is there, I'll be happy to meet him and have a chat with him.' Meet him? If the Yeovil Town hierarchy have anything at all about them, Jeff will be sitting right beside the man he says he hasn't seen in at least a year. It certainly sounds like it's time for either a long overdue catch-up or 90 minutes of awkward silence.
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It was very sad to hear of Jorge Costa passing away, and at only 53 years old too. That's no age at all. Unsurprisingly, all the focus will rightly be on his eight league titles, five cups, Uefa Cup and Champions League but for some of us elder members of this parish, he will always be a key part of the best named back four in what was called, at the time, the Barclaycard Premiership: 'Young, Fish, Costa, Fortune'. RIP Jorge Costa' – Noble Francis.
Many thanks for showing a beautiful photo of the Øresund/Öresund Bridge (yesterday's Still Wants More, full email edition) when marking the occasion of the Øresund/Öresund Strait Bigger Cup clash. I was one of 40,000 runners to make the journey to Malmö on foot in May this year, and may even be on your chosen picture (although very close to the back). What an experience' – Iain Moore.
Thanks for linking to the article about Noel Blake (yesterday's Quote of the Day), and I wish him well. I can testify to the man's footballing brilliance. At Exeter, December 1996, I once saw him nullify an entire Cardiff City attack by a tactic best summed up as: 'He's just chatting to Peter Fox in the centre circle, no hang on, he's exactly in the right place to sort that out, and now he's chatting to Peter again.' The rest of the Exeter City defence were free to join in the rather random bombardment of the Cardiff end, which eventually, and rather painfully led to two goals. From my position amongst the Cardiff City Soul Crew (don't ask) I can accurately report the Exeter goal was never threatened. I've never seen before or since, one defender, using such intelligence and pure class to boss a game. Mind you, I think Peter Fox nearly froze to death' – Jon Millard.
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