Reports from Abu Dhabi offer exciting update on Amanda Staveley’s potential takeover at NUFC

An intriguing update on Amanda Staveley’s takeover bid at NUFC has emerged from the Middle East’s leading English-language news service ‘The National’, who explain that a deal to take over from Mike Ashley could be worth ‘at least’ £300m before player investment, with sources close to the deal claiming she hopes for it to be tied up by December in order for to hand Rafa Benitez funds in the January transfer window.

Promising signs that a deal is now being negotiated, but one of the most exciting lines in the article today was perhaps this one:

‘The commercial success of Manchester City under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed’s ownership is the model that will be attempted at Newcastle United should a consortium of investors led by Dubai financier Amanda Staveley succeed in their pursuit of the English Premier League football club.’

An exciting prospect. And why not? Before Sheikh Mansour took over at Manchester City, they were by no means a bigger club than we are at present. Our stadium, fan support and world-class manager give us a solid base to build on and Staveley clearly sees our huge potential.

The report in The National then opens up about where the investment in the club would come from, revealing that  there are Gulf investors in the PCP Capital Partners consortium who hold a keen interest in Newcastle United, alongside Chinese money, reinstating their belie that the growth of Manchester City can be replicated on Tyneside.

Here’s what Ali Khaled, editor of FourFourTwo Arabia, had to say about the striking similarities between Newcastle and Manchester City prior to Sheikh Mansour’s game changing takeover:

“There are a lot of similarities between Newcastle now and Manchester City before the Sheikh Mansour acquisition,”

“The quality and size of St James’ Park, the loyal fanbase, the close ties with the local community in the Newcastle area, all point to the same potential both in terms of success on the pitch and off of it.”

Khaled then suggested that the outlook for ourselves is comparable to the recent growth at Everton, where we’ve seen Iranian businessman Farhad Moshiri pump well over £100m into transfers over the summer, with plans for a new stadium well under way.

Finally, the story claims that recent reports of £500m being made available for players over the next few windows is exaggerated, however they do confirm that ‘significant funds’ would be made available to Rafa Benitez if a takeover did go through.

To say these are exciting times would be an understatement, but I refuse to get too carried away until it’s looking nailed on. This is Mike Ashley they’re dealing with here!

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

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

5 thoughts on “Reports from Abu Dhabi offer exciting update on Amanda Staveley’s potential takeover at NUFC

  1. Rumours of AS letting the club know her valuation this morning, if things are still all steam ahead in a few days things may just be what were hoping for.
    Dare to dream but be prepared for Ashleys ability to scupper anything good.

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  2. What a complete load of garbage.

    As a Newcastle fan living in the UAE who reads to papers here every day I can confidently say that this is overhyped garbage picked up from the internet and repeated by the local press.

    This information was in the UK papers and websites long before it appeared here. So what does that tell you?

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  3. In case you missed the whole point, Stavely signed an NDA which means she can’t talk about this stuff.

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