Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley admits she was ‘p****d off’ with Premier League clubs when they took action to change sponsorship rules… but insists clubs were motivated by fear
- Amanda Staveley brokered Newcastle’s £305m takeover in 2021
- Sources insist that a deal with Sela would only come about at a reasonable rate
- Sean Longstaff insists Amazon filmed the only time Eddie Howe swore all season
Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley says she was ‘out of her mind’ with the club’s Premier League rivals when they changed sponsorship deal rules, claiming they were motivated by fear.
The financier brokered the £305m takeover of Newcastle in 2021, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund taking a majority stake. Shortly afterwards, 18 top flight rivals voted for new rules on related party transactions designed to prevent Newcastle from making lucrative commercial deals with Saudi companies.
Under the rules, their recent front-of-the-shirt sponsorship deal with Saudi event company Sela – worth £25m per season – had to be signed by the Premier League as fair market value.
Sources insist the club could only make such deals at a reasonable rate, but Staveley has revealed how ‘angry’ the opposition over their entry into the league made her feel.
When asked if other clubs saw Newcastle as a ‘threat’, she said: ‘Yes. But I was shocked that we could buy a club, pay full price and then the rules would just change. I think that’s what put me off, because we had so little revenue anyway, if you just start banning everything… We were 20th, we had nothing. I was angry at the time, yes.
Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley admitted she had been ‘buzzed off’ by Premier League rivals
Sela, the club’s shirt sponsor, had to be signed off by the league as fair market value
Staveley spoke on Amazon’s new four-part documentary “This is Newcastle United,” which airs Friday
“You have to remember that no one likes competition. The places in the Champions League are tight, there are only four. Other clubs do everything they can to make those places available to as few people as possible. Due to PIF’s wealth, there was obviously a lot of resistance from other clubs. I think there was a fear that we would have an unfair advantage.’
Staveley spoke on Amazon’s new four-part documentary “This is Newcastle United,” which airs Friday.
She also touched on the controversy surrounding the Saudi-led takeover, saying: “In the beginning, the big problem was they said PIF was the Saudi state, which was absolute nonsense.
‘We were clearly opposed by Amnesty International. Everyone wanted to talk about human rights and they didn’t want to talk about anything else. So we’ve worked really hard to address people’s concerns.”
We are Newcastle United launches on Prime Video with the first episode on Friday, August 11, followed by new episodes every Friday through September 1.