Dave Jones: 'I wouldn't p*** on Jeff Stelling if he was on fire' in new podcast

Dave Jones has claimed he wouldn't p*** on Jeff Stelling if he was on fire after the Sky Sports presenter criticized him during his time in charge of Hartlepool United. The remarks, captured on a new episode of the Under The Cosh podcast, reignited long-running tensions between the two figures.

Jones, a former Everton player and Cardiff City manager, took over Hartlepool in January 2017 as the club sat perilously close to relegation from the Football League for the first time. His tenure lasted 18 matches, with four wins, before he was dismissed in April 2017, just days after Stelling delivered a furious on-air rant on Soccer Saturday.

Stelling later apologised for his rant, telling The Times in 2017, 'I apologised if I'd gone too far. I should have stopped when I said, "Please walk away Dave", and not gone any further.' But the jibe still rankles Jones. Appearing on the same podcast this week, the Scouser did not hold back in explaining his view of the presenter.

'He (Stelling) reckons he's a Hartlepool fan,' Jones said. 'He had the club at his heart and everything else. Probably when I went in, I tried to change it too quickly. Didn't have the players to do that, a lot of good pros there and a lot who could have done better. I don't think Stelling understood 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 what he did.' 'I've never spoke about it until now. It was all for show and I spoke to a lot of people afterwards that were really annoyed at him. I don't think there was one person who agreed with him. They just thought it was a disgrace.'

Stelling pleaded with Jones to leave his post back in 2017 after winning just four of his 18 matches in charge of the club. Hitting back eight years later, Jones said he would not engage with Stelling off the field and would not pick him up if he drove past him in the desert.

Stelling resigned from his post as Pools president earlier this summer over the club's owner Raj Singh's failure to sell the club. Singh had put the club up for sale in April 2023 after their relegation from the Football League and resigned as chairman in March of this year. He'd previously promised the club would be sold by the end of the 2024-25 season but a buyer is yet to be found. Hartlepool currently sit ninth in the National League.