Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley has spoken on the decision to abandon plans of a Liverpool takeover in favour of the Magpies.
Staveley, CEO of PCP Capital Partners, has been a prominent figure at Newcastle since the takeover by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund in a £300m deal that also saw minority stakes for PCP and the Reuben brothers.
It was a deal that was mired in controversy and held up for more than a year until the green light was finally given by the Premier League and UK government in October 2021. The issue had centred on concerns over the links to the Saudi government, something that PIF had to prove had clear separation.
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But Staveley had been a well known admirer of a Liverpool buyout for more than a decade before the Newcastle deal came to fruition, having been a key figure in the attempts of Dubai International Capital to takeover at the Reds in 2008, returning to the scene in 2015 with China Everbright to try and engineer a deal.
While the 2015 move was something that Fenway Sports Group chief John W. Henry considered it was soon knocked back by the Liverpool owners, but Staveley remained determined to facilitate the acquisition of a major Premier League asset. Taking in a Liverpool clash with Newcastle would end up shaping that.
Speaking at the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit, Staveley said: “We didn’t go for a wonderful Tottenham, and a Chelsea and a Liverpool. Everybody knows I was a massive Liverpool fan, we tried to buy Liverpool but when we walked into a Newcastle game we thought why spend ‘x’ billion when you can spend £300m?”
“I love the valuations at Chelsea (£2.5bn sale in 2022 to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital) as it makes our valuation look very compelling.”
Staveley was also quizzed on the potential for the PIF to divest their interest in Newcastle and make a play for Manchester United, with some reports in recent weeks suggesting that as a play, although one that the Magpies co-owner rejected.
“I don’t think so,” said Staveley. “I can’t speak for PIF but what we’ve built in the last 12 months has been extraordinary.”
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