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Amanda Staveley has been speaking about Newcastle United in a new interview.
The club’s minority shareholder talking in Jeddah.
This appearance coming at the Bloomberg Power Players Summit on Thursday (7 March 2024) out in Saudi Arabia:
Amanda Staveley on how long it took to purchase Newcastle United from Mike Ashley and the challenge the Saudi Arabia PIF led consortium took on:
“When you go in you have all the hype of trying to acquire the club and it took us four years to do that.
“We are patient and we were persistent.
“But there needed to be dramatic change.
“We had to take this incredible club, inject it with some life.”
Amanda Staveley asked about Premier League FFP (PSR – Profit and Sustainability Rules):
“You will have to ask the (Premier League) executive team where they are going (with FFP).
“It is a difficult time because there has just been so much focus on sustainability that people have actually forgotten that we are providing entertainment and we have got to grow this business.
“It is not easy…
“Football is difficult.
“As you have very limiting financial fair play rules.
“You have so many rules and restrictions about player purchases.
“It really does need some fresh thinking.
“Sometimes, if you over-regulate you can slow growth.
“I think we have to make sure that we get the right balance between the right regulatory environment, the right rules… and the right financial fair play rules that promote growth.
“That is the only way you’re going to get great football.”
Amanda Staveley asked about a valuation of Newcastle United – Comparing now to when the consortium bought NUFC from Mike Ashley:
“The only thing that l will say about (Newcastle United) valuation is that…
“We – PIF, myself and my husband, the Reuben family – bought the club well.
“(We bought it) At less than two times turnover.
“Most clubs at the top of the league, you have seen valuations between five and seven times turnover.
“We look at things in a more measured way… we look at a valuation not just in terms of turnover, we use multi-variant models, which look at profitability… and that’s critical.
“Especially with the environment we’re moving into.”
“They (Premier League clubs) are very much seen as financial assets… not just financial assets, but the whole asset class that has really emerged through the development of the Premier League.
“In 2008, the rules around acquiring a Premier League club was very different.
“There were different rules on ownership.
“On the stakeholders.
“Then obviously the growth, incredible growth, of the Premier League, in terms of the players it attracted, the media rights that underpin those valuations, have attracted a lot of institutional investors.
“I know that everybody says ‘Financial fair play is difficult’ but it is actually that regulatory environment, that has allowed private equity to come in and invest.
“Therefore, you have got a huge change in the type of owner in the Premier League (compared) against 15 years ago.”
Amanda Staveley on Newcastle United and potential multi-club ownership by the club’s owners:
“I think we are very much (interested in becoming a multi-club model).
“Multi-clubs (ownership) are part of having football, it is a real benefit to be able to have players… and train players that aren’t part of your squad.
“The UEFA rules are changing and so we will have to see what emerges.
“Obviously, the dynamics around whether we could have a club have changed quite dramatically over the last year.
“I am still a very big fan of the multi-club model and a lot of competitors and friends in the Premier League have multi-club relationships… but it has to be considered as a whole.
“We have looked at Belgium.
“We have looked at a lot of European markets.
“We have looked in Asia, Australia, we have looked in Brazil…
“Pretty much everywhere.
“We have looked at every market, getting players through our academy system… and through that multi-club model would be very helpful, in terms of allowing us to buy and have players as part of our journey earlier on.”
You can watch that Amanda Staveley interview below:
This Amanda Staveley interview on Thursday marked exactly two years and five months since the Newcastle United takeover on 7 October 2021.
I wonder what will happen at Newcastle United in these next 29 months…

 
