Amanda Staveley felt the need to give the Newcastle United Women's side a congratulatory message in the home dressing room at St James' Park after Sunday's 6-1 win over Bradford City Women. Instead, the Magpies co-owner got to share an impromptu dance or two with Becky Langley's players.
Newcastle Women romped to victory in front of a bumper 24,000-plus crowd at St James' Park to keep their title hopes alive, with Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi in attendance. The Ripon-born financier has always stressed the importance of growing the women's team and it is clear football fans in the north east have firmly bought into the idea.
Newcastle boss Langley has always praised Staveley for her consistent support and backing and the players clearly wanted to show their appreciation after the third win at the home of the men's side in little over a year.
READ MORE: Newcastle Women keep title dreams alive with 6-1 win in front of huge St James' Park crowd
"Amanda and Mehrdad wanted to come in and give us a motivational speech and a well done but instead we forced them to dance in the middle of the group," Langley told NUFC TV. "I think Amanda was dancing with Anna Soulsby at one point which is brilliant.
"They're such good fun, such good energy and they're so passionate about the men's and the women's team. We won't forget the memories."
While Langley's pre-match target of a 30,000-spectator crowd on Tyneside didn't come to fruition, Sunday's attendance was a record for the fourth tier of the women's game. Meanwhile, The Valley, which holds 27,000 attracted a crowd of just 336 to watch Charlton Women play in the Women's Championship.
Newcastle are already putting other clubs to shame despite playing at a low level compared to their counterparts. Staveley's mission, shared by Langley, is to see the women's side rise up the footballing pyramid and eventually ply their trade in the Women's Super League (WSL). Sunday's win went a long way to speeding up that process.
"I think we'd never under-appreciate what it feels like to come out with 20,000 people watching us. I think that will stay with me forever, the experiences I'm having at Newcastle," Langley added.
"I think we have to recognise the context; we are tier four of women's football. It's unheard of to have that many people come out and support the women's team at this level.
"Our aspirations are to push into the Championship and the WSL and they gain crowds like that at stadiums such as the Emirates. We want to build so that when we get to the WSL we get these crowds every weekend."
Newcastle have three games remaining this season, taking on Leeds Ladies, Bradford Women and Barnsley Women away from home. The title-chasing outfit have two games in hand over league leaders Durham Cestria, who are six points clear, with promotion expected to go down to the wire.
Only one team can be promoted from the division and the league will be decided on goal difference should both title-chasing sides win all their remaining games. Langley and her side missed out on promotion last season as Liverpool Feds held on to top spot.
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