Former Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley plots next takeover move days after Eddie Howe departure
Former Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley has reportedly ramped up her interest in securing a stake in Championship club West Ham United.
Former Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi are reportedly part of a consortium looking to buy a 25% stake in Championship newcomers West Ham United.
Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners were part of a PIF-led group that brought an end to Mike Ashley’s 13-year ownership at Newcastle when they completed a takeover at St James Park in October 2021. The initial investment from the new look ownership group triggered a major upturn in fortunes that transformed the Magpies from relegation certainties to Champions League qualifiers and Carabao Cup finalists over the years that followed as the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier all joined Eddie Howe’s squad.
However, Staveley’s shares had been reduced to around 6% by the summer of 2024 when her time on Tyneside came to an end. Since then, the Ripon-based financier is said to have shown an interest in taking a stake in Tottenham Hotspur - but has now turned her attention towards West Ham following their relegation from the Premier League.
As it stands, David Sullivan and Daniel Kretinsky are currently the Hammers’ major shareholders - but BBC Sport has reported Staveley’s consortium have made ‘initial enquiries’ over a possible deal to invest in the Championship club after Sullivan stepped down from his role as joint-chairman at the London Stadium in June following a joint investigation by BBC Panorama and the Times newspaper into serious allegations over his personal life.
Sky News has confirmed Kretinsky is ‘interested in a deal’ to buy shares held by the family of former co-owner David Gold and current investors have ‘first refusal’ on matching any offer received. The same report also states the Gold family will release a statement should progress be made ‘out of respect to all other shareholders’ and confirms there will be no public comment from Staveley’s group.
What did Amanda Staveley say about his departure from Newcastle United?
Speaking in an interview with The Athletic during the summer of 2024, Staveley said: “My preference would have been to stay with Newcastle, but unfortunately life doesn’t always work out exactly the way you want it to work out. Nothing is going to replicate that. I fell in love with Newcastle, the club and the people and that can’t change, but I didn’t want to get in Newcastle’s way. It’s got to be about what’s best for Newcastle.
“Mehrdad and I are keen to be hands-on,” she said. “We’re hard-working people, I love to be very busy and to engage and I love football. Very sadly, we have to move on to other projects and that might involve us taking a stake in another club or buying another club and that’s difficult. But it’s possible. I don’t know what my future holds, but you can never move on from the love I have for Newcastle and I would love to come back for matches. I’m a Geordie now. I’m a Yorkshire Geordie, but I will always have that chemistry and that love.”