Amanda Staveley – the new Queen of British football – on the Toon takeover, Saudi’s human rights record and her six-year-old’s predictions

AMANDA STAVELEY’S sixyear-old son was playing in his first football match as she clinched the takeover of Newcastle United.

The contrast between grassroots kids football, to an elite level, multi-million pound relaunch in the Premier League was not lost on a proud mum.

“The great thing about football is it is inclusive to all,” she said. “Everyone has a passion for it.” One minute she is talking about Newcastle United being the last jewel of a club available to buy – “It is like a fantastic gem which needs buffing up at every level.’”

And the next she is sending texts to her boy Lexi from her Tyneside hotel room.

“He was playing his first game today and has followed the whole deal all the way through. When he was five, yes five, he was saying when are you going to get it, mummy? Then, you are not going to get it! He has got into his first football team and he will be coming up as a fan. Being a mum is so important to me, and seeing the passion at that age.”

Newcastle fans will come to discover the new leadership team are open and communicative – everything Mike Ashley’s regime wasn’t.

Staveley is a charismatic, people person, as is her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi and fellow 10 per cent stake holder Jamie Reuben. But they are also tough. Her PCP Capital Partners firm fixes deals. In 2008, at the age of 35, she was involved in the takeover of Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed alNahyan, and dubbed ‘the new Queen of British football’.

Newcastle was in her sights almost four years to the day, when she attended a match against Liverpool. She added: “We looked at Liverpool and it did not work, and I fell madly in love with this club. I went to our friends in PIF

– the Public Investment Fund, sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia – and said this is the only club we can ever buy. Obviously I am a Northerner, so I appreciate what it means.”

There were uncomfortable questions to answer. Staveley talked of supporting the Newcastle women’s team, but how does it sit with women being discriminated against in Saudi?

She mentions football’s rainbow laces campaign, which supports LGBT fans, but in Saudi Arabia homosexuality is illegal and can lead to flogging and imprisonment. She repeatedly insists the PIF is separate from the Saudi state, and the Premier League now agrees.

Even if it is legally separate, a Canadian court has heard that the PIF owned the planes that flew the hit squad to Turkey to murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The PIF is chaired by ruler

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA say had a hand in approving Khashoggi’s murder.

She insisted: “PIF are the owner, but the state of Saudi is not. I understand and appreciate all the messages on human rights, and we treat them very seriously. I would not invest and I would not bring in partners without the right record.

“The PIF is run by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, also the new chairman of Newcastle United. They are going in through the front door and they are not going to hide.”

Staveley visited the staff at St James’ Park yesterday. It was all quiet but won’t be at the Spurs game next week.

“The club has such an incredible atmosphere, so I am really looking forward to the Tottenham game,” she added.

Plans are being made to move the Alan Shearer statue into the stadium, and ex-players will be engaged as ambassadors. But the real test will come on the pitch.

“We don’t want to over-promise, we cannot say we are going to get the title in three years,” said Staveley.

“But I love people who are brave, that is how I do business. And I am passionate in business, that is a really important thing.”