Why the arrival of Amanda Staveley could be a game changer for NUFC and Rafa Benitez

Further developments have come to light this week with regards to the latest possible takeover talk of NUFC. It’s early days but after years of frustration under Ashley’s reign, it’s hard not to get too excited. It could potentially release the chains attached from the Ashley era, enabling us to believe we’d finally have some ambitious owners to take us to the next level.

Rumours are that Amanda Staveley would be the figure head of a takeover and backed by £28 billion firm, PCP Capital partners from the Middle East. Articles ran in the Chronicle this week explaining how the Middle East is very competitive regarding football, with the only nation there without a top football club in Europe being Saudi Arabia. It could be that investors there are looking for a new club, apparently we are one of three English clubs being considered, to rival the likes of Manchester City.

If this was to come off, and it’s a big if, what would be the potential impact for NUFC?

NUFC competing for top players again

Investment and finance rules modern football and this is what we are lacking under Ashley. It is almost impossible, Leicester aside, to break into the top 4 without serious financial muscle.

A new owner like PCP would certainly give us that opportunity. It would have to be like Man City, where we build gradually but it would just be so refreshing to see us showing ambition in the transfer market again and have a free spending window similar to that of Everton’s this summer. Arguably, we have not had that since Freddy Shepherd was in charge, with his club record signing of Michael Owen yet to be beaten by Ashley.

Keeping Benitez

The major positive of recent years being a Newcastle fan has been the arrival and work of current manager, Rafa Benitez. Rafa is ambitious and has big plans for Newcastle. He will not be happy battling relegation next season even – he’ll want year on year progression and I imagine that includes getting Newcastle United back into the Champions League. It may sound a million miles away at the moment, but with ambitious new owners, big investment, a top class manager and a city that lives and breathes football, the sky could be the limit.

As a fan, it’s great having a manager of this calibre and expectation, but there will come a time when Ashley has to catch up before Rafa finds a new club who will match his ambition. A new takeover could solve this and keep Rafa at SJP.

Uniting the fans further – turning hope into a reality?

Another major positive has been the unity of the fans under Bentiez. We have a common goal, the atmosphere is far better at games, we sell out games and initiatives like Gallowgate flags have been a fantastic addition to match days. The only thing that could unite the fans further would be confirmation Rafa is staying, all the speculation of him leaving naturally causes unrest and gives the press an angle to publish click bait content about NUFC, usually negative. A takeover would be a game changer as keeping Rafa would allow us to move forward together, with hope for the future.

The latest takeover talk is exciting and one NUFC fans will be keen to learn more about over the coming weeks. As always though, the caveat is that this is Mike Ashley and a spanner in the works is usually not far away.  The club has been on the market for a while with no buyers, so his asking price is clearly too high. The new TV deal may have just made us an attractive proposition despite the asking price; and Staveley must have been impressed with the atmosphere and unity on display at the weekend.

Here is hoping for some positive news soon, so we can all get excited about the future again.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Simon Riddlesden

Lifelong Newcastle United fan and East Stand season ticket holder. Observations from a supporter who has followed NUFC during Champions League participation and through relegation, taking me from Milan to Scunthorpe.

256 thoughts on “Why the arrival of Amanda Staveley could be a game changer for NUFC and Rafa Benitez

  1. I am not trying to pick a fight with you either Shamrock. I already did that with the Aussies.

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  2. Stuart79: I’ll be laughing and smiling next week when I’m in Dubai. I’ll look out for Amanda when I’m there…

    Good time to come to Dubai, mate. Temperatures down to around 36 now. Holiday or business? Where will u stay mate?

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  3. Can’t beat a bit of Star Trek Eric, we all need a bit of escapism now and then. It’s Star Wars that I can’t stand.

    Did you watch Deadpool Eric, now that’s good .

    I love a good gangster movie most of all and historical drama, the more truth based the better .
    Hate rom coms with the exception of Sliding Doors and Truly madly deeply .

    Oh god, can we have proper football back now please.

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  4. KIMTOON:
    Can’t beat a bit of Star Trek Eric, we all need a bit of escapism now and then. It’s Star Wars that I can’t stand.

    Did you watch Deadpool Eric, now that’s good .

    I love a good gangster movie most of all and historical drama, the more truth based the better .
    Hate rom coms with the exception of Sliding Doors and Truly madly deeply .

    Oh god, can we have proper football back now please.

    I told you Kimtoon. The International Break is where football blogs go to die. Just so glad I could help out.

    Those 2 England games were just so bad…

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  5. How the hell did Harry Winks get a game? He has played 4 games for Spurs. He might be OK or good or Ronaldo-esque. How the hell would I know, he has only played 4 games.

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  6. Sorry, got my facts wrong. Winks has started 4 games for Spurs but has played in 26. Played in 26 and scored 1 goal. That is almost Jordan Henderson bad. Played 35, scored 0 for England has the Mighty Mackem.

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  7. At least Rooney scored when faced with **** opposition. Lithuania. Even Fat Wayne could score against them.

    Here is the list again of who England played in qualifiers:

    Malta
    Slovakia
    Slovenia
    Switzerland
    Malta’s reserves
    Scotland
    North Tyneside U12 girls Club
    Lithuania
    Tunbridge Wells Senior Lawn Bowling Association.

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  8. Its just not that important though is it?!
    There is too much international footy. It kills the season.

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  9. I mean. Do you just have to go to Tat Direct and buy a Spurs shirt and suddenly you are picked for England? I thought that was Man U. Maybe both now?

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  10. shamrock:
    Never heard of Harry Winks. I know I’m out of touch…

    He played for England this week. He obviously must not have had Irish ancestors otherwise he would be playing for Ireland instead.

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  11. Sham: I admit that Winks looks like a decent player but he cannot get in the Spurs team but can get in the England team.

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  12. Eric Sykes: He played for England this week. He obviously must not have had Irish ancestors otherwise he would be playing for Ireland instead.

    And don’t get mad at me. I am having a lark around. As I have said, the England cricket team have been filled with South Africans so I can’t criticize the Ireland football team for being full of cockneys.

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  13. Eric mate, I think you are single handedly keeping this thread going at the moment. You know that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. ?? when you answer back, well that’s the second sign… ?

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  14. Yeah Eric thats the thing with the Irish team. No airs and graces, just bloody happy to wear the shirt no matter where they come from. Maybe its because a lot of them know how lucky they are to get an International game (seeing as several are basically English rejects), but they have the Irish fans and sense of pride behind them – and that makes the whole thing magical. It also helps that the press dont build them up then tear them down when it does not work out.

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  15. WI know the British press come up with some really rubbish football storey,seem like all rags in every country come up with ****,newspaper in Sporting Lisbon saying toon bid 40 mil for Bos Dost in the summer,I doubt it very very much,but then follow up saying if Everton really want him they will have to pay 60 mil in Jan,poor sales pitch imo

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  16. Well by ten o’clock this morning the C/Palace game was sold out,boy there some fans just hope someone buys Jabba out they deserve a lot more than he gives us

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  17. shamrock:
    Yeah Eric thats the thing with the Irish team. No airs and graces, just bloody happy to wear the shirt no matter where they come from. Maybe its because a lot of them know how lucky they are to get an International game (seeing as several are basically English rejects), but they have the Irish fans and sense of pride behind them – and that makes the whole thing magical. It also helps that the press dont build them up then tear them down when it does not work out.

    I don’t know Shamrock. How long will it take for Jordan Henderson to become Irish? Does playing in Liverpool count?

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  18. It really is a pity the US will not be going to the World Cup but they would have gotten slaughtered anyway. They have a terrible team but still should have beat Trinidad to qualify, a nation of 1.3 million that is more interested in cricket. The best summary is that the USA were worse than England. They finished 5th in a 6 team group that included Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica and Trinidad – hardly footballing super powers. I don’t watch much Major League Soccer but it is about on par with the Championship so there shouldn’t be any excuses.

    Yedlin was bloody awful BTW. He basically decided he was going to play as a winger and ignore all defensive duties. He channeled his inner Laurent Robert for the night. He better not do that for us.

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  19. Cracking goal for Merino again. Maybe Rafa should consider him as the one to get forward from midfield. He’s a good finisher.

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  20. At least Argentina made it. And with an absolutely sublime Messi hattrick. I think they have a good chance of winning it. They have so many brilliant forwards that it unbalances the team because they shoehorn them in. A bit like Liverpool where they are brilliant when they click but you never know what you will see. Or Keegan’s NUFC. There is a funny bit in that article I posted about Keegan not even practicing defence and that all the defenders were converted attackers anyway.

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  21. georgio:
    Cracking goal for Merino again. Maybe Rafa should consider him as the one to get forward from midfield. He’s a good finisher.

    georgio: the first comment on Ice’s link suggested Merino as a number 10 and that might work. I see Perez is saying he has been “instructed to defend from the front” but at some point strikers need to score goals.

    Did Rafa have Kuyt and Heskey at Liverpool? They sort of played the Perez role – the hardworking, non-scoring striker. I just think we need to see some goals or we will have defeats like Brighton and Huddersfield where we didn’t play too badly but lose by the odd goal.

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  22. And what the hell is the point in having an international break to play friendlies 8 months before the WC. If they want to have new age management speak “teambuilding” why don’t they all go off paintballing on their day off.

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