Raj Singh steps down as chairman - Robbie Stelling and Rich Mennear reaction - video Dailymotion

Hartlepool Mail

Robbie Stelling and Rich Mennear react to news that Raj Singh has stepped down as Hartlepool United chairman

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00:00Manchester Singers also confirmed that they'll fund the club until the end of the season,

00:03so the clock is ticking, with obviously the end of the National World Season coming around

00:07pretty sharpish in less than two months or so.

00:09Robbie, how's your week been and how do you assess the news?

00:13Eventful, Rich, it has to be said.

00:16It's never boring covering Hartlepool United, that's for certain.

00:21In one sense it was a massive surprise, wasn't it?

00:23I don't think anyone really expected the announcement, the timing of it, it all seemed really sudden.

00:29But I suppose in another regard, we shouldn't be altogether shocked because, as you said,

00:36the club has been up for sale since April 2023 when pools were relegated.

00:42There was that decisive game at home to Crawley at the end of the season when fans voiced

00:49their discontent at chairman and owner Raj Singh and he responded by putting the club up for sale.

00:56At times it felt a bit like tit-for-tat more than anything.

00:59I think a lot of people would question to what extent Singh has genuinely been serious

01:04about selling the club.

01:06Obviously in his statement, which was really bullish, wasn't it?

01:09He said that personal abuse and the misrepresentation of information had made his position untenable.

01:18He criticised supporters groups.

01:21He suggested that previous prospective buyers have been time wasters.

01:26So clearly there is an admission that there has been interest in the last couple of years,

01:31but obviously Singh has not been satisfied by that.

01:35The fact that he's stepped down as chairman in quite a public way suggests to me that

01:41this is significant.

01:43In some ways it feels like we've been here before, particularly in the months after Singh

01:47first put the club up for sale.

01:52But this feels slightly different.

01:54I think given the public nature of the statement and the resignation, it feels more to me like

02:01Singh is genuinely serious about selling the club than probably at any stage in the last

02:06couple of years.

02:08As you said, it's been another really disappointing season on the pitch.

02:13The results have been generally disappointing.

02:16We've had three different managers for the second season in a row.

02:20The deterioration of the pitch has been almost like a public rebuke to the way that things

02:26are going.

02:27I think Pools are staring down the barrel of a bottom half finish in the National League.

02:33They obviously finished 12th last season.

02:35They still need to get a few points to be absolutely certain of their National League

02:40status.

02:41That's obviously going to be significant for all sorts of reasons, not least because a

02:45National League club will be far more attractive to any prospective investors than one in the

02:50National League.

02:51Presumably from Raj Singh's point of view as well, it'll better hold its value.

02:57It's been a really turbulent few years, hasn't it, Rich, since Raj Singh took over the club

03:02at the end of the 2017-18 season.

Raj Singh steps down as chairman - Robbie Stelling and Rich Mennear reaction

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