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Fans have demanded that former Tottenham Hotspur chairman and prominent UK business celebrity Lord Sugar delete a “disgraceful” message he posted after the death of ex-Liverpool and France manager Gerard Houllier.

One of football’s most respected names, Frenchman Houllier passed away at the age of 73 this week, just days after undergoing heart surgery in Paris.

READ MORE: ‘Such a gentleman’: Tributes pour in as former Liverpool and France boss Gerard Houllier dies aged 73

His death was met with an outpouring of mourning and respect from the world of football and beyond, but Lord Sugar – who was chairman of Tottenham for a decade, before finding further fame on TV shows such as the UK version of The Apprentice – used Houllier’s passing to take a dig at fellow TV personality Piers Morgan.

“Sad news on Gerard Houlier [sic]. Nice fellow. I can image that @piersmorgan will devote half of [Good Morning Britain] show telling everyone how he knew him so well and go back ages,” Sugar sarcastically wrote to his 5.2 million followers. 

Sad news on Gérard Houlier. Nice fellow. I can imagine that @piersmorgan will devote half @gmb show telling every one how he knew him so well and go back ages.

Using Houllier’s death to take a pop at fellow TV motormouth Morgan did not go down well, including with former Liverpool defender-turned-pundit Jamie Carragher.

“Delete this you f*cking idiot,” Carragher screamed in the replies to Sugar’s tweet.

Delete this you fucking idiot.

Another reply said that Sugar was “actually a disgrace,” while BBC presenter Dan Walker told Sugar it was neither “the time nor the place” for a cheap shot at Morgan.

One fan simply told the businessman to “bore off.”

You’re actually a disgrace.

There is a time and a place Lord Sugar. May I humbly suggest that this is neither the time nor the place.

Using someone’s death to make digs at Piers. Bore off mate ???

However, Sugar was unrepentant, telling Walker to “chill out” and “get a life.”

Morgan, meanwhile, had not taken Sugar’s bait at the time of writing. 

May I suggest you get a life, chill out see the truth and irony in my comment and mind your own bloody business. https://t.co/dHvxmwZoSk

Sugar, 73, was knighted in 2000 for his “services to the Home Computer and Electronics Industry.”

He is estimated to have amassed a net worth in excess of £1 billion from his Amstrad electronics empire, although he sold his remaining stake in the company in 2007.

He was chairman and part-owner of Spurs from 1991 to 2001, but also offloaded the last of his shares in 2007, nonetheless remaining a committed fan of the North London club.

Sugar has landed himself in trouble for his online statements before, being forced to apologize in 2018 for a tweet which was branded ‘racist’.

The tweet showed Senegal’s World Cup football team with another picture of rows of sunglasses and handbags positioned in front of them.

An accompanying message read: “I recognize some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multi-tasking resourceful chaps.”