This morning, Amanda Staveley has been speaking at the FT Business of Football summit.
The PCP chief has rubbished suggestions that the Saudi PIF could sell Newcastle to fund a mega-money bid for Manchester United, insisting they snubbed clubs like Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool in the past because, “why spend billions.”
After confirming that filming has taken place for an Amazon documentary, our co-owner admitted we are doing “everything we can to grow our commercial revenue with FFP.”
She then explains that the club “hit our FFP buffers much quicker than other clubs”, meaning they’ve been forced to be “prudent” and stick to a budget set by FFP regulation; admitting the club “can’t afford” to sign a “dud player.”
Staveley then touched on the “difficult contracts” that were left by Mike Ashley following the Saudi-backed takeover 18 months ago, giving the FUN88 agreement as one example that’s limited our ability to boost commercial revenue.
In terms of growing the NUFC brand, Staveley admitted a ‘multi-club’ ownership has been considered – something Man City have done in recent years – but insists it would have to be the right fit.
Read these quotes in full below:
“There is a film crew who are making a documentary for Amazon about the behind-the-scenes work that we’re doing at Newcastle.
“They’re not focusing on it as an All Or Nothing, they’re more focusing on the commercial side. With FFP rules as tight as they are, we really do need to do everything we can to grow our revenue and grow our finances.”
“We have had to be prudent because we would have hit our FFP buffers much quicker than other clubs. We have an FFP budget and keep to that. We can’t afford to have a dud player.
“An opportunity to buy players affordably well, early in the cycle, is critical to our growth. We’re very focused on our academy and young players at the moment.
“We inherited very difficult contracts from likes of FUN88 which were very much one way. We were limited as to how we could drive commercial revenues.
“We’re looking at everything in terms of how we grow NUFC, our brand and club. We have looked at multi-club but you have to make sure you have right fit. We also make sure you choose your territory correctly, get the right chemistry and critical you set out what your goals are.
“It’s complicated and we’re also looking at another structure that would allow us to maybe both. Maybe something a little bit different that gives us more opportunity to work with a lot more clubs (without buying stakes in them). That’s at a quite early stage, so we’re just looking.
“I think anybody who is looking to buy any club is going to be looking at that multi-club model.”
Asked if the Saudi PIF would sell Newcastle to buy Man Utd, Staveley also said:
“I don’t think so. They (PIF) won’t buy a mega club like Manchester United.
“We didn’t go for the wonderful Tottenham, Chelsea or Liverpool” because “why spend billions.”
Honestly the Man United sale scares the sh!y out of me and her answer on the question doesn’t make me feel any better. Hopefully I am worrying for nothing but with Qatar wanting Man United I wouldn’t doubt MBS has ideas to do Qatar in and one up them on a bid. The two countries truly hate each other.
I know we are ahead of schedule the way we are playing this season but I think it’s critical we overachieve by a lot to keep the Saudis from getting impatient and wanting to ditch us for a project further along like Man United or a comparable rival (like Liverpool).
Maybe I am crazy? But still scared…
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