The most powerful person in world football is now a woman: Who is Amanda Staveley?

Amanda Staveley was born in Yorkshire in 1973.

Amanda's father, Robert Staveley, was the founder of the Lightwater Valley theme park. At a young age, Amanda was helping her father with simple tasks here.

Her mother, Lynne Staveley, was a model and also a show jumper.

Rejection to Cambridge!

Although Staveley had a great opportunity at Cambridge University, she turned it down and entered her dream business sector at the age of 18.

Amanda Louise Staveley (born 11 April 1973) is a British business executive. She is notable chiefly for her connections with Middle Eastern investors. She helped a Saudi consortium take over Newcastle United in a deal completed in October 2021 and has joined the board of directors.

With a loan of £180 thousand, Amanda Staveley opened a restaurant.

She then expanded her business gained many critical contacts in the Middle Eastern market and became a prominent businesswoman.

She also played a role at Manchester City

The first change of hands that started a break in English football took place in the early 2000s when Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea.

Then, in 2008, Manchester City was bought by Sheikh Mansour. Amanda Staveley was one of the people who played a leading role in this process due to her job.

Liverpool initiative

Staveley's company made a joint offer to buy shares from Liverpool in 2016.

However, this offer was rejected by the club.

Runner

Amanda was interested in running in her youth and was a good sprinter. Staveley is said to be able to run 100 meters in just 12.6 seconds.

However, it is stated that Staveley stopped running due to an injury she suffered in the future.

Barclays investment and lawsuit

Staveley's company, PCP Capital Partners, had a large share in this process on behalf of Sheikh Mansour, who wanted to invest 7.4 billion pounds in the bank named Barclays. However, Staveley's company is said to have made a profit of around £40 million.

Staveley sued Barclays in 2020. The successful businesswoman argued that Barclays managers misled and misled her.

First attempts for Newcastle

Staveley launched its first attempts to buy Newcastle in 2017, but then-chairman Mike Ashley said the effort was a waste of time.

Staveley, which continued its negotiations with the Saudi Arabia-backed consortium in 2020, did not achieve success in 2021.

First words

Amanda Staveley, who is claimed to have a personal fortune worth £ 110 million as of 2021, became one of the shareholders and managers of the well-established club with the official change of hands of Newcastle United.

In her first words, Staveley underlined that they came with a long-term project and said that Newcastle looked like "a gem that needs to be polished".

Who is Amanda Staveley?

If you look at where Amanda Staveley's adventure began, you will understand why she rose so easily in the business world.

The Staveley family's roots date back to the 15th century and they have lived in North Stainley ever since. The pub in the area is called The Staveley Arms. The deer in the Staveley family coat of arms is on the signs pointing to the village on the A6108 road. There is also the Staveley stag on top of the structure at the cricket ground. In honor of the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France passing through the village, there is even a deer motif made from old bicycle parts.

Visiting this region of rural North Yorkshire, where British culture is deeply felt, will make it easier for you to understand a few things. For example, why in later years Staveley mentioned that she was an acquaintance of future prime minister Theresa May and counted former cabinet minister David Mellor as another ally from the Conservative Party.

Those who know Staveley can be divided into two: those who see her as the savior of Newcastle United and those who think she did everything she could to bring Saudi Arabia to the Premier League and mask the evil face of the brutal regime.

Without Staveley, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, from the UAE ruling family, would not have been able to sign the deal that changed the balance of English football and buy Manchester City. It is possible to see her influence in the Premier League's two most striking sales.

But it wasn't always gold she held. Given her track record, Staveley also knows what it's like to run failing businesses, teeter on the brink of bankruptcy, and survive for five years with London-based private equity firm PCP Partners' accounts virtually untouched.

Considering all this, the accuracy of the headline "The most powerful person in world football is now a woman" published in The Independent in 2011 becomes questionable. And now Staveley works for the Saudi crown prince and current ruler Mohammed bin Salman al Saud. There are many people who think that her role on Newcastle's board is to cover up the dirty laundry of the club's new owners.

Staveley proved Newcastle's previous owner Mike Ashley and everyone else who described her as "incompetent" wrong.

His mother, Lynne, was a former European gold medal-winning show jumper and suffered from Huntington's disease. Staveley had inherited the disease from him. But this did not prevent it from reaching its current position.

Staveley's role in the £210 million sale of City in September 2008 will remain the event that catapulted her into a new position in the football world.

While Staveley was trying to lay the groundwork for the Dubai International Capital (DIC) investment group's acquisition of Liverpool in 2008, she realized she needed to get some local newspapers, such as the Liverpool Echo, on her side.

Staveley did not back down after Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett bought the club. She arranged to meet the newly formed Spirit of Shankly supporters group at a restaurant in Liverpool's Albert Dock. She met Hicks on a pheasant hunt in Yorkshire. But Liverpool was a club where her trademark didn't work.

Fast forward to 2016, when Staveley appeared on stage again. This time she was in collaboration with Everbright, a Chinese state-owned financial institution. John W Henry, who bought the club six years ago, refused to meet with Staveley, but Everbright officials said she would meet them directly if she was serious enough to come to England. This never happened.

March 2022

Confession from Newcastle United partner Amanda Staveley: We wanted to buy Chelsea

Amanda Staveley, one of the partners of Newcastle United in the English Premier League, made a confession about Chelsea. Staveley stated that Chelsea, which Roman Abramovich put up for sale, was on the radar of the Saudi Arabian consortium for a while.

After Russia declared war on Ukraine, Britain banned Roman Abramovich, who was in Putin's inner circle, from entering the country.

Abramovich, who was on the "dangerous people" list, had to end her 21-year Chelsea adventure and the Russian billionaire put the British giant up for sale. According to Abramovich's statement, the money from the sale will be transferred to the Ukrainian people.

Amanda Staveley, one of the partners of Newcastle United, said that the Saudi Arabian consortium wants to buy Chelsea before buying Newcastle United.