Amanda Staveley, the financier who orchestrated takeovers of Manchester City and Newcastle United, did not deny that she could be involved in a bid for West Ham United when asked directly by Spear’s.
Staveley was central to the 2021 takeover of Newcastle United, when she and the investment firm of the billionaire Reuben Brothers each took a 10 per cent stake in the club and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF took 80 per cent. Staveley also played a strategic role in Sheikh Mansour’s 2008 takeover of Manchester City.
The investor has gained a reputation as the premier connector for billionaires and sovereign wealth funds seeking a route to own top English football clubs. She had previously been open about her interest in Tottenham Hotspur. Her firm PCP Capital was involved in an expression of interest last year, around the time longstanding Spurs chairman Daniel Levy stepped down, although this was rebuffed. The club is majority-owned by an entity controlled by the British billionaire Joe Lewis.
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Staveley told Spear’s: ‘We’ve looked at a lot of clubs, including Tottenham, but we are looking at clubs around the Premier League and the UK, Europe. […] We really want to be buying, going in and investing into a club again very soon.’
However, Staveley had not previously confirmed her interest in West Ham.
When asked by Spear’s whether she was considering a swoop for the East London club, which was relegated this season and has been gripped by a broader crisis, Staveley smiled broadly and said: ‘Maybe. You don’t know.’
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‘I think both my husband and I were attracted to building a business where we can take a brand that isn’t doing so well, a club that isn’t performing well, get it on the right road, and bring that forward.
‘There are very few clubs [where that can] work. If you want to tick every box, there’s actually very few clubs that allow that.’
Change is already afoot at West Ham after David Sullivan, 77, stepped down as joint chair and director of the club having been made aware of a joint Times and BBC Panorama investigation into historic allegations about his conduct. Sullivan denies the allegations.
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Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, who owns Royal Mail, is set to replace Sullivan as West Ham’s largest shareholder after agreeing to buy an additional stake in the club from the Gold family.
Křetínský has agreed to buy some of Vanessa Gold’s shareholding, taking his own stake from 27 per cent to 43 per cent. Gold’s father, David Gold, died in January 2023.
Gold and Křetínský have previously stated that they have ‘agreed to vote jointly on key matters and to support the strategy targeting an immediate return to the Premier League’. The club made a loss of more than £100 million last year and is said to be in search of an injection of capital.
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Staveley was speaking to Spear’s in Rome at FII Priority Europe, a Saudi-backed conference for ‘investors, policy-makers and innovators’.
Separate to any interest in individual clubs, Staveley said that she and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, who works alongside her at PCP Capital, were raising money for a ‘new sports and media fund’, which is understood to be targeting around $1 billion. The financier said she would be working again with Reuben Brothers, the investment firm founded by billionaires David and Simon Reuben and now led by David’s son Jamie, on the fund.
Asked if she had any advice for other billionaires eyeing an investment in a football club, Staveley said: ‘Look, that’s why we’re doing our sports and media fund; so you can get access to those types of deals.’
UPDATE: Following the publication of this article, PCP Capital Partners issued a statement to clarify its relationship with Reuben Brothers in relation to any future or potential investment activity: ‘PCP Capital Partners (“PCP”) notes recent press speculation and confirms it is evaluating a number of potential opportunities in football, conducted by PCP alone. The Reuben family has no involvement in any football club acquisition by PCP; their association with PCP relates solely to a new sports and media fund focused on the broader sports sector ecosystem.’
This article has been amended to clarify the distinction.
Spear’s is an official media partner of FII Priority Europe.
