Raj Singh (born 17 October 1964) is an Indian businessman based in England's

Tees Valley Tees Valley is a combined authority area in North East England, around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley. The combined authority covers five council areas: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland ...

. He is the owner of the Prestige Group and of

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

football club

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

Early and personal life

Singh was born in October 1964. He is married to wife Manjit; the couple have two sons and two daughters together. In March 2022, in response to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Singh pledged £250,000 towards an appeal for those affected by the war.

Business interests

Indian-born Singh is owner of the Stockton-based Prestige Group. His business interests include some residential care homes, a construction company and investment properties across the UK. He started out in business owning an off-licence in

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...

. During the 1980s, Singh began building a property portfolio in

Teesside Teesside () is an urban area around the River Tees in North East England. Straddling the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, it spans the boroughs of Borough of Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton ...

. Singh purchased his first care home in 1994 which was in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. As well as being the owner of Prestige Group, Singh also runs housing development firm Redcastle Homes.

Football

Darlington F.C.

Singh became vice-chairman of

Darlington Football Club Darlington Football Club is an association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, England. As of the 2024-25 season, the team competes in the National League North, at the sixth level of English football. The club was founded in 188 ...

in October 2008, appointed by then chairman of the club George Houghton until the club went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in February 2009. On 28 May, it was announced that he was taking over the club as chairman. On 7 August 2009, Darlington came out of administration and were given permission by the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Singh to take over as new owner and chairman of the club. Singh, together with previous owner Houghton, were confident enough to appoint manager

Colin Todd Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing as a defender for Sunderland, ...

in the interim period, as well as sanctioning contracts for a new playing squad. Shortly after Todd was handed a permanent deal Singh sacked Todd after he failed to win any of his first nine games and appointed

Steve Staunton Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa and Liverpool. He also played in the F ...

as his second permanent appointment. In early 2012, Singh decided to cut his losses and placed Darlington Football Club into administration, seven months after the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

victory at Wembley in May 2011.

Hartlepool United

Singh bought Darlington's arch-rivals

at the end of the 2017–18 season. He committed more than £1.2 million in cash to the club, saving it from the threat of administration and potential liquidation. In 2020, the club was approached by

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the List of highest-paid film actors, world's second-highest-paid actor in 202 ...

and

Rob McElhenney Robert McElhenney III ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actor, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his role as Mac on the FX/ FXX comedy series '' It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), a show he created and co ...

who were interested in purchasing Hartlepool. It was reported in '' i News'' that Singh was sceptical and after growing frustrated with delays from Reynolds and McElhenney, the pair moved on and purchased

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

instead. Speaking to the paper in May 2023, club president

Jeff Stelling Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He presented '' Gillette Soccer Saturday'' for Sky Sports from 1994 until 2023 and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015. He also present ...

said "It's 100 per cent true that they wanted to buy Hartlepool and it’s ironic they went for Wrexham in the end who are going into the Football League when the club who was their first choice, which was us, are going out of the Football League." However in his programme notes before a game in October 2023, Singh denied this was the case writing that "Wrexham was always their first choice and they were keeping their options open by talking to other clubs like ourselves." Under Singh's ownership, Hartlepool earned promotion in the 2021 play-off final after defeating

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. On 26 April 2023, in an official club statement, Singh confirmed that Hartlepool United would be put up for sale. Hartlepool were relegated back to the

after two seasons in the Football League at the end of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. Shortly after relegation, the ''

Hartlepool Mail The ''Hartlepool Mail'' is a newspaper serving Hartlepool, England and the surrounding area. History The paper was founded in Hartlepool in 1877 as ''The Northern Daily Mail'' and continued to be printed in the town until August 2006, when the ...

'' were informed that they would be banned from attending Hartlepool home matches in future. In subsequent discussions, Singh confirmed that the decision would not be reversed. The editor of the ''Hartlepool Mail'' Gavin Ledwith added: "The letter was totally unexpected because the club had not indicated to us that there was a problem in the first place. Nor have they outlined with concrete evidence exactly what that apparent problem is." The ban was eventually overturned in February 2024. On 25 January 2024, Singh rejected a takeover offer for the club from a consortium including the Hartlepool United Supporters' Trust. On 11 March 2025, Singh resigned from his role as chairman with immediate effect due to fan pressure, continuing to fund the club for the remainder of the season whilst the club searched for a new buyer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Raj 1964 births Living people Indian football chairmen and investors Darlington F.C. chairmen IIT Kanpur alumni