In a way a recent phenomenon. One time if someone wanted to buy a club, depending on their finances, they always bought a league club, it just seemed the natural thing to do. But…..it carries a lot of baggage as well.
A reasonably sized fan base will have expectations of any new owner as the fans naturally assume you didn’t buy their club to plod on like the previous owner, they want the new owner to have their ambition, which is understandable, but established clubs have lots of football politics round their necks.
So now, the new breed can instead spend money on ‘Gas Street Athletic FC ’, change the name and start afresh with a grateful minimal fan base and draw up the blueprint for the new club in their image.
They can afford really decent players and managers to take them up,through the leagues quickly because they have the financial backing of a League One club and an ambitious owner whose pet the club is.
Ultimately we could end up with most of league 2 as a bastion of the 1200 fan hobby club stadium …as though the league has become a private gentlemen’s club because they bought up all the best players and managers.
It’s possible.

Unfortunately you are right, Snowy.
From our point of view Jeff Stelling has raised the profile of our club over the years and I often wonder why he has never been able to muster any sort of consortium of real football people with financial clout to have a go with Pools. Maybe he has never really tried.

Of course he has. We'd have gone out of business in 2018 if he hadn't been instrumental in getting Raj Singh involved - by stumping up some of his own cash. Bet he's doing his bit now and all.

Jeff's got a bit more time on his hands nowadays - he's been to a few more games already and as Mr Hogan's said- he could well be working on a deal of sorts with potential consortia?

We are very lucky that he's one of our own as surely any potential investors would want him on board. Jeff's a class act and unless you're from Loidland - no one has a bad word to say about him- which is rare given his media pedigree.

Is Stello better than Mandelson Leadbitter n previous club Presidents?
Hes a worldwide class act sky actor so think he could play a major part in getting his/our club out of this mess we are in and it is a mess. By way of his famous personality im sure he could produce a consortium to get this up for sale takeover over the lline.

Thats if Sing still wants out.

IIf not then we will most probably be looking at a very bleak future where clubs like South Shields n Spennymoor rise above us.

Considering how big Sky Sports football Saturday was in the mid 2000s, and how much money he'd have had made, Jeff has done the bare minimum for Pools.

When were in the super shit back in 2018 he made some comment along the lines "oh well Hartlepool United is the only club so if the trust or whoever form another I won't care"

I remember once seeing him on twitter kicking off over the National League charging 40 quid for Grimsby's playoff final...not realising tthat Pools fans had to pay the exact same price the season prior for a reduced capacity!

Sure he got Raj in, equally, he stood by him as he scuppered the American takeover as well.

Looking back think the Trust got some undeserved abuse when it only wanted the best for Pools.

Irrespective of how much cash Jeff Stelling has (according to the net to be £2.5 million) and his love of Pools he is not going to throw it away by buying Pools.

No ones expecting him to buy Pools.
Just to have some impact on a successful takeover would do.
Or maybe hes thru the towel in and wants his 10% back.
As it stands now Administration looks closer.
Sure that happened at anutha nearby club.

Or just maybe, no one’s remotely interested in buying Pools.
Or the prices allegedly offered were insufficient.
But how much was offered…
Or Raj has no intention of selling the club.
Pick n Mix.

Raj Singh isn't a consortium with financial clout so no he hasn't. He was instrumental in getting Raj in, thus saving the club but many fans see Raj as a disaster. The club is ticking over at the moment, whilst allegedly trying to attract a new owner and the Singh/Stelling partnership isn't demonstrating any financial clout. If they ever had any they've never chucked much of it at Pools but saving the club is one thing, and financing it further is another. They appear to want the club to be self financing. That is not a criticism because they decide the best way to spend their cash, not me.
Also, whilst I respect Stelling as a football person, I can't bring myself to adorning Raj with the same accolade.
To those thinking I'm suggesting that Jeff buys Pools. I'm not. I am not convinced he could afford it if he wanted to buy it.

Interesting discussion about the Saudi Arabian League with the ultimate on ‘loadsa money’ as they’re now trying to recruit refs across Europe and paying big bucks.
But one commentator mentioned they won’t have any trouble from the crowd as there were only 790 ‘fans’ in the huge stadium for Kevin Henderson’s debut.
The ultimate hobby clubs.

This fella invested his lottery win in a hobby club and was left penniless,
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/r ... ng-8036294

Seriously, he shouldn’t have been allowed loose with a £1 gift voucher, that was financial Kamikaze.
If he asked for people to form a queue to pay a pound to slap him on the head for being so dumb with money, he’d soon get his money back and a massive headache.

The easiest way to make a small fortune from investing in a football club, is to start with a massive fortune!!!

First rule of buying a football club….. try something else first.

but its a hobby and how many people ever make a profit from having one. we just live in a hope of the knight in shining armour arriving at the vic. there is as much chance of that happening as it was at fleetwood, salford, harrogate etc before it actually happened. need to just live in hope as it took all these bankrolled clubs as long as it took us to get one if that happened.

If it’s a hobby fair enough, but it’ll prove an expensive hobby.
I just wonder at those who believe they can make a viable business model out of it. The