Amanda Staveley wants Newcastle United Women to have more opportunities to play at St James' Park after the team's 'incredible' debut last season.
Newcastle Women got the chance to play at St James' for the first time back in May and more than 22,000 supporters were there to support Becky Langley's side on a historic afternoon. Such was the level of support, kick-off against Alnwick Town had to be delayed by a quarter of an hour because there were so many fans queuing outside to get in.
It was the largest crowd for a women's league match in England last season and the Lady Magpies will certainly be back. The women's team, after all, have been brought into the heart of the club by the new owners and Staveley is keen to ensure that last season's outing at St James' is not a one-off.
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"It was such a special day," the part-owner said in a recent CSM panel discussion. "We had a really difficult Liverpool match on the Saturday and the Sunday was the most incredible day.
"It was the first chance our girls had got to come in and women had played in front of a really big crowd. We had to stop everybody coming in because of the queues and, eventually, we had to put back kick-off.
"The way to do it is to engage with the community because I think you'll find all of our football communities are just so passionate that if they're given the chance to support women, they will do it. I also think as stakeholders and owners we have to give that chance for everybody to come in and see it.
"We have to put our young teams, our under-23s, in our stadiums about twice a year and the idea is to give them a chance. I said, 'Actually, I'd like the women's team to get the same opportunity. Why can't we make it part of the new rules to say let's have our women's playing in the main pitch?"
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