Stelling threatens to surpass exploits Lineker if Hartlepool win promotion

The talkSPORT Breakfast host has made no secret over the years of his love for Hartlepool who are 13th in the National League.

Stelling is the club president at Victoria Park and therefore takes a vested interest in the clubs on and off-field matters.

But that hasn't stopped him dreaming about the club's ascent back into the EFL after suffering relegation from League Two in 2023.

In fact, Stelling has gone one step further by explaining how he would celebrate if the M Hangers not only gained promotion back to League Two but continued their rise by making it to the Championship.

Granted, there is much work to do but a fan can dream, right?

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There was a time when it would have been outrageous to assume a team like Leicester City could become Premier League champions before going on to reach the Champions League quarter-final the following season.

And all this after narrowly escaping relegation 12 months earlier.

Few believed it. More so one of their most famous fans and ex-players in Gary Lineker who promised to present Match of the Day in his pants if Wes Morgan and co lifted the title in 2016.

On May 7, 2016 the skipper climbed the podium and lifted the trophy aloft leaving Lineker furiously scrambling through his drawers in search of his favourite pair of boxer shorts.

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But a bet is a bet and while Lineker made as many headlines across the world as the insatiable Foxes, it is nothing compared to the lengths Stelling is prepared to go.

Asked whether he would emulate Lineker by hosting talkSPORT Breakfast in his pants should Hartlepool get into the Championship, he joked: "I would host talkSPORT breakfast without my pants in order for Hartlepool to get into the Championship.

"League Two would be fine, never mind the Championship."

Maybe Stelling is not yet aware that talkSPORT Breakfast is live, in-vision, on talkSPORT's YouTube channel and accessible across the world.

Or maybe we don't realise that underneath his attire, 69-year-old Stelling is sporting a physique to leave us all in awe.

Over to you Hartlepool United…

Watch Jeff Stelling's PASSIONATE defence of Ed Sheeran after crashing Ruben Amorim's interview