Amanda Staveley shares texts from players, her love for Howe and “biggest concern”

After reading through Amanda Staveley’s in-depth chat with The Athletic in full, there’s more brilliant snippets worth sharing as our former co-owner reflects on her time at Newcastle and surprise exit last month.

One section of George Caulkin’s piece covered the reaction behind the scenes to her and Mehrdad Ghodussi’s departure, covering the messages she received from players. This section from the article itself showed how much they both meant to the squad:

“I love you so much”, which demonstrates something quite telling about how the club have operated. Another describes himself as “devastated”. Another says, “You helped bring me to a place I now love”. Another: “Thank you for what you and Mehrdad did for the club and myself.” There are plenty more. Safe to say, it is not the usual way of things at Premier League clubs, but it is part of Newcastle’s story, where everybody has been tight-knit and aligned.”

We don’t know which player said what from the snippet above, but “you helped bring me to a place I now love” could well be Bruno Guimaraes; one of the first signings of the Saudi era who always has never hidden his appreciation for the club and those responsible for his £40m move from Lyon.

Staveley then added: “Maybe some of the lads will be relieved I’m not texting them every minute because they won’t feel like their mum or aunt is on their back all the time! I’ve been in the dressing room in tears on a few occasions and the players ended up giving me support!”

The PCP chief then went on to discuss her love for Eddie Howe. She got emotional at this point of the interview, revealing what the Newcastle United boss is really like and why they struck up such a tight bond during her three years on Tyneside: “Eddie… wow. Sorry, I’m crying. He is extraordinary. He’s tough. There’s no detail he doesn’t look at. He is such a great ambassador for us.”

“You can’t put aside his warm nature because it’s pivotal to how he manages. He has so much trust from his colleagues and players because they know that everything he’s doing is about getting them to improve.

“It all comes from how hard he works — and when I say ‘he’, I’m also talking about Jason Tindall (Howe’s assistant) and the rest of his coaching team. It’s the work he does on the grass but it’s not just that, it’s all the way through: the training regimen, tactics, the support he offers players, making sure they’re sleeping well and not stressed. I learnt so much from him.

“I think everybody knows we have a close friendship but from a managerial point of view, I just feel he hits everything. He’s 11 out of 10 every day. That’s why England would want to take him.

“He has been the perfect manager for Newcastle. We’ve been so lucky to have had these two incredible managers at the club, one being Eddie and the other Becky Langley (manager of Newcastle’s women’s team). They have very similar characteristics and work ethics.”

A final snippet worth sharing saw Staveley discuss our frantic end to the PSR deadline in June, admitting her “biggest concern” was losing one of Alexander Isak or Anthony Gordon before confirming that Liverpool’s interest was genuine:

“My biggest concern was that we’d lose Alex (Isak) or Anthony (Gordon) because Liverpool chased him and both are extraordinary players. Negotiating is tough because you have to pretend it means nothing to you when it means everything.”