Sense of rising mystery at St James’ Park
AROUND 10 days ago a flag appeared with the Newcastle United badge on it. There is nothing new in this. For the last 14 months Gallowgate Flags have produced a plethora of the things.
This one differed dramatically in that underneath the ‘For Sale, excellent football club’ message (in black and white obviously) and ‘would suit a romantic daydreamer,’ was the picture of a woman’s face. The identity of the blonde haired woman would remain largely beyond the radar of most of the club’s support.
That would only become apparent half an hour before Newcastle faced Liverpool at St James’ Park on Sunday. At that point it was revealed the woman in question was Amanda Staveley (pix), and, to make the situation really interesting, “a financier with an estimated £28bn under her new management and reportedly open to buying a Premier League football club”.
Staveley, 44, and a former beau of Prince Andrew, began PCP Capital Partners as a small Mayfair financial advisory. More pertinently, her company was involved in the £210m deal that saw Sheikh Mansour take over Manchester City through the Abu Dhabi United Group.
Her involvement in the takeover of Man City (and a failed one at Liverpool, when Rafa Benitez was manager) meant Tyneside’s metaphorical red carpet was rolled out. ‘If you see her get the trebles in,’ one wrote on Twitter.
Her Wikipedia page changed almost instantaneously as well. “She bought Newcastle United in October 2017 for £380 million which meant Mike Ashley was no longer chairman in Newcastle,” it suddenly read. “He took his wallpaper back to London with the Cockney Ba****.”
That she was in the directors’ box during Sunday’s 1-1 draw further fuelled the flames, as did the fact she walked down past the press box when the game had finished and headed down the tunnel. She was also, it was said, a guest of Benitez.
The devil, as always here, lies in the detail, or rather the lack of it. She spent time with Kenny Dalglish, the former Newcastle and Liverpool manager at the game. Nobody, however, in officialdom at the club knew she was planning to attend. Mike Ashley, the Newcastle owner, was not even at the game. There has been no contact at all, it has been revealed.
A football club that is now unofficially up for sale, hence the increased involvement of Justin Barnes, one of Ashley’s main figures at Sports Direct, has been left surprised by the weekend’s events.
Perhaps more than anything it says there is a desire for the support to try something different, that after 10 years they will take the gamble of a new owner, days after the man Ashley succeeded, Freddy Shepherd, passed away.
There has been speculation that at least two non-disclosure agreements have been signed for interested parties to go through the club books. Nothing on this has been confirmed. It is thought any potential interest from China may have cooled and Newcastle will not follow West Brom and Southampton, who are now completely or part owned by businessmen from that country.
It is thought Ashley’s preferred agreement would be a part sale of the club, a share of ownership and responsibility, as with many of his investments. The idea to offer a £20m bonus to the first team squad if Newcastle end their 63-year domestic drought for a major trophy and land the FA Cup in May came from Ashley.
The end may not yet quite be in sight for the Newcast l e supporters chasing a new owner, despite the appearance of a new flag to woo the Liverpool-supporting Staveley. – The Independent