Jeff Stelling torn apart by ex-Premier League manager after threatening to quit on live TV

Former Hartlepool United manager Dave Jones has pulled no punches in his criticism of Jeff Stelling. Former Soccer Saturday host and noted Hartlepool fan Stelling was honorary president of the club when Jones took over as boss in January 2017, but used his show to call for the board to sack him before the end of the season.

Jones, who managed Southampton and Wolves in the Premier League and several clubs in the EFL, had been out of the game for three years when he took the reins at Pools, then in League Two. He only lasted until April. though, with Stelling tearing into the manager after a defeat to Barnet which would prove to be Jones' last.

"This is not personal, Dave, but Dave Jones, for God's sake, for the good of the club, walk now, so now," Stelling said. "Sack him," he added. "If it needs me retiring and resigning as president, I'd do so happily. Do it now. Do it today."

Hartlepool ended up dropping down to the National League despite winning on the final day under caretaker boss Matthew Bates. They briefly returned to the fourth tier in 2021 but are back in the National League again and finished 11th last season.

Jones hasn't felt the need to comment too much on the situation in the years since. However, that changed during an appearance on the Undr the Cosh podcast, where he directed a shocking barb towards Stelling.

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"He [Stelling] reckons he was a Hartlepool fan, he had the club at heart and everything else," the 69-year-old began. "The club has struggled for 20 years. Probably when I went in, I tried to change it too quickly. [I] didn't have the players to do that. A lot of good pros there, a lot of pros that could have done better. I don't think Stelling understood all that. I think he was acting like a fan.

"I ain't got time of day for him. I wouldn't p*** on him if he was on fire. I'd just walk away from him - got no time for him. I think it was totally wrong in what he did. I've never spoken about it until now.

"It was all for show. I've spoken to a lot of people afterwards that were really annoyed at him. I don't think there's one person that agreed with him, that I spoke to. And I mean top, top players, top managers. They just thought it was a disgrace. But he doesn't mean anything to me.

"He thought because he was a fan, he thought he had the right of way for everywhere," Jones added, before claiming: "He'd be phoning the chairman, 'why am I picking him? Why are you... all this c**p. Nothing to do with him - just support the club.

"He's got a show, but he's got a show to do what? Not to criticise other people. We can all criticise him, when he was mumbling or didn't do this or do that, but what's the point? Do you know what? I'm bigger than that. Put it this way, if we were in the desert and I drove past him, I wouldn't pick him up."

This season, Hartlepool have begun the campaign with 14 points from their first 10 matches. Former Leeds United and Sunderland boss Simon Grayson is now in the dugout, having returned to English football after stints in India and Nepal.

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