Amanda Staveley has offered fresh insight into the new ownership's stance on stadium sponsorship at St James' Park. For years fans fumed over the Sports Direct advertisements that were plastered around the famous old ground and the lack of a big money spinning deal to help bring new stars to the field.
Fans may not have grumbled too much had marquee signings came through the door under former owner Mike Ashley. It remains to be seen what new sponsorship opportunities lie in wait at Newcastle.
But the Ripon financier has indicated that the thoughts of the fans are paramount and that "due care and attention" will be taken should any major decisions see United follow Man City and opt for a Middle East stadium sponsorship package.
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Staveley, speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit, said: "No. Look, quite rightly some clubs look at the related party issues and thought we'd go in and have Saudi Aramco or a Saudi sponsor all over the stadium and that has not happened.
"First and foremost St James' belongs to the fans and we always remember that we are custodians and we are privileged to be there. We have got the world's greatest fans. We want to make sure we do everything that's right for Newcastle and the club. PIF are incredibly aware of their position as custodians and they want to make sure that whatever sponsorship decisions are taken in the future with due care and attention."
"There are strict party rules now. I never had any concern about them when we went in, yes it was challenging, but we bought the club and the rules changed quickly but I knew we would never do deals that were not fair market, we'd run the club efficiently well. I hope that other clubs and the Premier League are starting to see that. We're going to get the best deals for the club."
The new board of directors have found themselves on the end of a legal complaint from Ashley after removing the Sports Direct signs at St James' Park in recent months. But Staveley hopes that there is no bad blood between the former owner.
Staveley said: "We have filed a defence. We are big fans of his and fans of Sports Direct, but we want to see something different for Newcastle. If Sports Direct came and said we want to pay you tens of millions of pounds, we would be delighted to speak to Mike. It's about revenue. It's a difficult challenging time. Mike had run the club efficiently. We arrived and had a different business model to turn it into a global club and brand. We want to challenge for trophies and that needs investment."
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