The roots of Amanda Staveley's Newcastle United takeover, Rafa Benitez links, Twitter trolls & more  – Steve Wraith's Every Boy's Dream, part one

Seeing off paid gangland henchmen, working on the doors in Ibiza, a boxing promoter with Newcastle United takeover connections as well as acting as a voice of the fans – South Shields-born Steve Wraith has been there, done that and got the t-shirt.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

In his new book Every Boy's Dream, co-written by Jamie Boyle, Wraith digs deep into his past, present and future as he shines a light on what made him - in his own words - the 'Marmite', 'self publicist' he is today.

Newcastle United runs through Wraith's veins and his undying love, personal battles and torment with the Magpies a constant theme throughout.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As part of this special Gazette two-part serialisation, in his own words, Wraith tells the tales of his relationships with the likes Amanda Staveley, Mike Ashley, Rafa Benitez and Derek Llambias, as well as opening up on THAT funeral march, his hooligan connections, Paul Gascoigne's 'Mars bar' return to Tyneside and dealing with social media 'trolls' on a daily basis.

DIC negotiator Amanda Staveley takes her seat before Liverpool took on Chelsea in their UEFA Champions League semi-final football match against Liverpool at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England, April 22, 2008. The game finished 1-1. AFP PHOTO/PAUL ELLIS (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)DIC negotiator Amanda Staveley takes her seat before Liverpool took on Chelsea in their UEFA Champions League semi-final football match against Liverpool at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England, April 22, 2008. The game finished 1-1. AFP PHOTO/PAUL ELLIS (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
DIC negotiator Amanda Staveley takes her seat before Liverpool took on Chelsea in their UEFA Champions League semi-final football match against Liverpool at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England, April 22, 2008. The game finished 1-1. AFP PHOTO/PAUL ELLIS (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

In part one Wraith talks about his close connection with former United boss Benitez, as well as his unexpected meeting with PCP Capital Partners's Amanda Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi in 2017.

An unexpected call from Benitez's people - before he'd taken the job...

"I was sitting at home one day when I got a message on LinkedIn of all places from a guy with a short message which said, 'Hello Steve I work for Rafa Benitez maybe we should grab a coffee sometime'. I thought it was a wind up!

"I arranged to meet him in town in Blakes on Grey Street.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - MAY 04: Rafael Benitez of Newcastle United looks on during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Liverpool FC at St. James Park on May 04, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - MAY 04: Rafael Benitez of Newcastle United looks on during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Liverpool FC at St. James Park on May 04, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - MAY 04: Rafael Benitez of Newcastle United looks on during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Liverpool FC at St. James Park on May 04, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"When I sat down with him, he told me that him and Rafa had heard a lot about me and that I came highly recommended. The agent then then said I was the man who they’d need to be speaking to when in Newcastle.

"He went on to say that he viewed me as a means to build a healthy relationship with the supporters and if I could do that it would be beneficial both ways."

On building bridges with Benitez...

"When Rafa’s Newcastle managerial career started his team invited me into the director’s box for the last game of his first season. "That day we beat Spurs 5-1 and we’re all cheering like we’d just won the league even though we’d just been sent down. Typical Newcastle! We were invited down to meet Rafa in his office after the game.

Every Boy's Dream, by Steve Wraith and Jamie Boyle.Every Boy's Dream, by Steve Wraith and Jamie Boyle.
Every Boy's Dream, by Steve Wraith and Jamie Boyle.

"Sky Sports News was on the TV screen and a hot buffet was laid out. 'Whatever you do don’t touch the wedges or Diet Coke but help yourself to anything else' - at least we knew what Rafa’s after match meal was!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"When Rafa came in he shook our hands and made us feel at ease. He talked football from start to finish. He just wanted to know our opinions of things and that blew me my Dad and Rob away. I mean here you’ve got a Champions League winner asking Steve Wraith from the Sunday League his opinions on football. We knew we were sitting in the presence of greatness and that our club was in very safe hands.

"I kept in touch with Rafa’s team over the summer and they were kind enough to invite me each home game.

"I got to meet some incredible people to such as Rafa’s family including his wife and brother, and some of Rafa’s worldwide connections in football.

"If any of them stayed I would make sure they were looked after at hotels and restaurants and got some on guest lists at clubs if they fancied a later night."

Staveley & the end of Rafa...

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"When Rafa first arrived at the club he called Newcastle United ‘a project.’ He was talking about the long term, but it soon became apparent to him after signing a new contract that Ashley was seemingly not a man of his word. He constantly moved the financial goalposts making it impossible for Rafa to fulfil his ambitions at the club.

"The arrival of Amanda Staveley at the club for a match against Liverpool in 2017 looked like the only chance we had of Rafa staying beyond his contract.

"She had helped facilitate the takeover at Manchester City and was now hoping to do the same at our club. I was told about her interest and was told that she would be joining us for a match but did not know which game.

" I was doing my usual pre-match talk with Supermac at The Dog & Parrot in Newcastle when one of my friends text me saying, have you seen the press? I went online and the headlines were, ‘Amanda Staveley arrives in Newcastle!’

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I turned up at the match with my dad and my brother Rob, Amanda was there with her husband.

"We were introduced and I sat between them for lunch. We talked about the club, the city, the history of both, and discussed how people felt about the current owner. We chatted on and off for an hour and then headed out into the directors’ box. With the world’s press set to focus on her I opted to sit away from her. The last thing I needed was twitter going into meltdown and being asked 101 questions later that evening.

"After the game Amanda went to introduce herself to Lee Charnley to set the wheels in motion for a takeover.

"The first takeover attempt came to nothing sadly, despite a lot of hard work and effort on Staveley’s side and she was accused of being a time waster by Ashley in the media."

Twitter 'trolls' and social media abuse...

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Today my social media attracts a lot of trolls. Twitter has to be the worst. There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t get some sort of nasty abuse from these people that hide behind a computer.

"I’m like Marmite. You love me or hate me.

"Trolling can get on top of you if you let it but you do learn not to let it get to you. You can only do that through experience and to gain that experience then you have to take a lot in the first place and I have.

"Will it ever end? Not as long as social media platforms allow people to set up multiple accounts with no credible ID checks allowing them to hide behind fake profiles.

"Remember trolls are insecure people who get pleasure out of other people’s misery, don’t let them win."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

*Tomorrow, in part TWO, Wraith tells tales of his interesting relationship with former Newcastle chief Derek Llambias, hooligan connections, the story of Gazza's Tyneside return and THAT infamous funeral march. Every Boy's Dream is available here.