Amanda Staveley has confirmed Newcastle United’s owners are looking at a multi-club ownership model and said she was confident the Saudi PIF would not have their heads turned by the opportunity to buy stakes in Liverpool or Manchester United.
i revealed last year that the club had started to investigate a multi-club model, which would see the club replicate the City Group structure – which has 11 clubs in Europe, Asia, North America and South America.
It is one of the options open to Newcastle, who are currently in the throes of a major review of club operations, and Staveley said they were also “in the early stages” of investigating possible partnerships with other clubs which would stop short of the PIF taking a stake in them.
Staveley was speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football summit where she reflected on a first year that has seen – by her estimate – the ownership group invest more than £200million into the club and operations.
But she said there was more to come, with a focus on Academy operations, recruiting players and off-the-field investments.
Key to their growth is improving revenue streams. Staveley admitted they had inherited “very, very difficult” sponsorship contracts with the likes of FUN88 which were “one way” and long-term and limited the amount of revenue they could bring in. As i revealed last year, they have negotiated an early break from that deal.
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“The opportunity to buy players affordably early in the cycle is critical to our growth.
“We’re very focused on the Academy and young players at the moment. We’re bringing some exciting guys in.
“Obviously we have looked at multi-club (ownership) but whenever you look at multi-club you have to make sure you have right fit. With the changes around GBPE points (which govern whether players can get work permits) at the moment, it’s important to do that.
“You also need to make sure you choose your territory correctly, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the right chemistry because remember you’re working with another fanbase in another area and it’s critical you set out what your goals will be.
“Multi-club ownership is complicated. We’re also looking at another structure that would allow us to do both, which would give us an opportunity to work with a lot more clubs without buying a stake in them.
“That’s in the early stages but I think every buyer of any club will be looking at that multi-club model.”
Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi own 10 per cent of Newcastle, with the Reuben family owning the same stake and the Saudi PIF the majority, 80 per cent owner.
They had looked at other clubs but felt Newcastle offered the most enticing option. Staveley said the recent valuations of Manchester United and Chelsea made their decision to invest in the Magpies at a fraction of the price look wise.
“When we looked at Newcastle we were very clear – prior to buying them – we wanted a club with a passionate fanbase. We got that. We also wanted a club we could buy affordably because we were also partners with PIF and they are effectively a pension fund, managing money for future generations,” she said.
“So we wanted something that was very sustainable and we could build. (Football ownership) is very risky. We didn’t go for the wonderful Tottenham and Chelsea and Liverpool.
“Everyone knows I’m a massive Liverpool fan and we did try to buy Liverpool but we walked into a Newcastle game and said ‘Why spend X billion when you can spend £350m (on Newcastle)?’
“We have put in £200m plus to date of new money since we’ve bought the club and we have a business plan based on a five, ten, 15 year timeline. Critical to that plan was making sure we had the right partners and PIF are very long-term partners.
“Our consortium is a hybrid, PIF are long-term investors, (husband) Mehrdad (Ghodoussi) and I are not that wealthy. We’re the poor partner and that helps govern a lot of the decisions.”
Some have suggested there would be regrets on the part of the PIF because Manchester United and Liverpool are now available. But Staveley said there was no propsect of the Saudi majority owners selling Newcastle to switch their interest to one of the global powerhouses.
“No. I don’t think so,” she said.
“I can’t speak for PIF but I really can’t see that happening. We’ve built in the last year from 11th to hoping we have a chance of the Champions League.”
She also confirmed the club are filming a behind-the-scenes documentary, partly to help grow revenues and help them comply with financial fair play.
“There is a film crew who are making a documentary for Amazon about the behind-the-scenes work that we’re doing at Newcastle,” Staveley said.
“They’re not focusing on it as an All Or Nothing, they’re more focusing on the commercial side.
“With FFP rules as tight as they are, we really do need to do everything we can to grow our revenue and grow our finances.”
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