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4 months ago
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Last Friday (12 July 2024), the Newcastle United owners announced that Amanda Staveley would ‘step down from all her positions with Newcastle United.’
News that was met with a wide spectrum of reactions from Newcastle United fans.
Many greeting the news with astonishment, not seeing it coming at all.
Whilst a minority of supporters greeted the club’s official announcement (see below) with no surprise whatsoever. Their view that this was all but guaranteed to happen as we approached three years post-takeover, Amanda Staveley having played her role in helping to get the deal done and then assisting in the tricky immediate period following the departure of Mike Ashley.
Who had ensured that this was a club that had been diminished to a skeleton staff, with no recognisable high-level executive team to run Newcastle United day to day, nor a proper Newcastle United board to operate above that.
Instead, a quite ridiculous state of affairs whereby Lee Charnley was the only officially named executive helping to run the club day to day AND the only person making up the Newcastle United board! Named as a single board member to satisfy the legalities, whilst Ashley relied on certain members of his Sports Direct inner circle to remotely oversee his NUFC interests.
Newcastle United owners official announcement – 12 July 2024:
‘Newcastle United Football Club today announces that an agreement has been reached to change its ownership structure.
PIF and RB Sports & Media will increase their shareholdings in Newcastle United, as part of the long-term plan to develop the club and make it a consistently credible competitor in domestic and European competitions.
As part of this structural change, PIF and RB Sports & Media will together acquire PCP Capital Partners’ shareholding in the club and Amanda Staveley will step down from all her positions with Newcastle United.
Following this, the new shareholding structure will see PIF control around 85% and RB Sports & Media holding the remaining 15% stake in the club. These structural changes are expected to be completed during July 2024.’
Whilst the club made the announcement that Amanda Staveley would be stepping down from all her positions at Newcastle United, no indication as yet, when it come to who, if anybody, will take over those ‘positions’ at Newcastle United.
Starting with the day of the takeover, these are the Newcastle United board appointments and resignations, as per the filings at Companies House that are available for the public to see:
Amanda Staveley – Joined the Newcastle United board on 7 October 2021.
Jamie Reuben – Joined the Newcastle United board on 7 October 2021.
Lee Charnley – Left the Newcastle United board on 7 October 2021.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan – Joined the Newcastle United board on 2 December 2021
Majed Al Sorour – Joined the Newcastle United board on 12 May 2022 and left on 14 December 2022.
Majed Al Sorour – Left the Newcastle United board on 14 December 2022.
Abdulmajid Ahmed Alhagbani – Joined the Newcastle United board on 23 February 2023.
Asmaa Mohammed Rezeeq – Joined the Newcastle United board on 23 February 2023.
As you can see, at the moment, the Newcastle United board has five members currently, those are:
Amanda Staveley, Jamie Reuben, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Abdulmajid Ahmed Alhagbani and Asmaa Mohammed Rezeeq.
Very soon we will no doubt see Amanda Staveley confirmed by Companies House (movements at the club and other businesses appear publicly on their site usually a number of weeks after the changes have been made and documents then filed with them) as having resigned from the Newcastle United board.
That would then leave four members of the Newcastle United board and with Abdulmajid Ahmed Alhagbani and Asmaa Mohammed Rezeeq staying very much in the background, that then only leaves Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Jamie Reuben as the other two board members who will remain.
Looking from the outside, it appeared that as well as being very much the public face of Newcastle United, Amanda Staveley had ever increasingly become the link between the UK side of things with Newcastle United and the Saudi Arabia PIF.
Amanda Staveley regularly reported as traveling back and forwards between the two countries, no doubt updating and coordinating with NUFC Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and others who are part of the Saudi Arabia PIF side of things.
The question for me now, is whether it will be Jamie Reuben who now takes on a far more public and hands-on role at the club? Especially as the Reuben family shareholding has now increased to 15% alongside the 85% Saudi Arabia PIF majority stake.
Eddie Howe and the first-team squad are currently at the Adidas headquarters in Germany, preparing for the new season at the world-class Adidas facility.
Also spotted there have been club CEO Darren Eades and CCO Peter Silverstone, plus the very recently-appointed Performance Director James Bunce, as well as the new Sporting Director Paul Mitchell.
Amanda Staveley has of course now left the club and no sign of her in Germany, but, Jamie Reuben is there, along with these senior executive staff.
Interesting to see which way this goes.
When Amanda Staveley is formally confirmed by Companies House as having resigned as a director, will a new Newcastle United board member be appointed who will fill at least some of the roles Amanda Staveley filled, including/especially the regular contact with Saudi Arabia.
Or will, as I suggested above, we see Jamie Reuben come far more to prominence and get far more hands-on and public? if so, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him named as something like vice-chairman on the Newcastle United board, with only Yasir Al-Rumayyan having a more senior title.
Either way, I feel like this is kind of a new era we are moving into.
The initial three years post-takeover having flown by, with now Newcastle United putting their foot on the pedal and the pace quickening, as the club builds towards what it can potentially be.
I think we can expect some major announcements in the near future, not least plans on delivering a bigger stadium. Whether the Newcastle United owners will be committing to increasing St James’ Park as best they can, or a whole new stadium…

 
