Mehrdad Ghodoussi spotted at Premier League rival's stadium after Newcastle United exit

Ghodoussi left Newcastle alongside his wife Amanda Staveley as part of an ownership reshuffle in July. Ghodoussi and Staveley were instrumental in the club’s takeover in October 2021.

But over the weekend, Ghodoussi was spotted at Stamford Bridge watching Chelsea’s 4-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. He was sat in the director’s box alongside Chelsea co-owners Behdad Eghbali, sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart as well as club legend Frank Lampard.

Cameras captured Ghodoussi applauding one of Cole Palmer’s four goals in the victory.

Ghodoussi and Staveley have personal relationships with members of Chelsea’s board and have attended matches at Stamford Bridge previously. Newcastle co-owner Jamie Reuben is also a boyhood Chelsea fan.

Newcastle majority owners, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, also have links to Chelsea owners Clearlake Capital. PIF have billions of assets managed by Clearlake but the links were not deemed sufficient enough to raise conflict of interest concerns between Chelsea and Newcastle’s ownership.

Newcastle chairman and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan was expected to be at St James’ Park for the 1-1 draw against Manchester City on Saturday but cancelled his visit. PIF-linked LIVGolf chief executive officer Greg Norman was in attendance at St James’ Park as Anthony Gordon scored a penalty to secure a point for the Magpies.

Since stepping away from Newcastle, Staveley has been linked with an investment in Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.

And Newcastle are currently searching for a new chief executive officer with Darren Eales set to step down from his role due to health reasons.