Amanda Staveley has praised the work of "marvellous" Eddie Howe after the head coach transformed the fortunes of Newcastle United in just a year.
The Newcastle co-owner has spoken of the early struggles at the club after the Saudi-backed consortium inherited a team in the relegation zone and without a director of football or CEO. But in just one year, the Magpies have climbed away from the bottom half of the table and the final 14 games of the top-flight campaign will be about whether they can qualify for one of the UEFA competitions or not.
Speaking at last week's Financial Times' Business of Football Summit, the Ripon financier reflected on the last 12 months on Tyneside. Staveley said: "We were getting over being in a relegation position. "And having to bring the club back to life.
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"We had some incredible people with us day one, but we've had to build that team out well. We've had to bring in the marvellous Eddie Howe but when we first took over it was extraordinary because we didn't have a director of football, a chief executive or a commercial director.
"We inherited very difficult contracts, Fun88 or contracts that were six or seven years in length, which were very much one way. So we were limited by the way in which we could drive our commercial revenues. It was a really difficult time and the priority was not to be relegated.
"We were very proud we finished 11th. We did everything Mehrdad and I worked together, I think the most extraordinary thing is I am sitting here still married after a year working alongside my husband!
"We did every role. We were CEO, commercial director, director of football and we did the transfer policy. We brought in some brilliant players and we are where we are today with the marvellous and brilliant Eddie. "
"It was exhausting but because it was such a baptism of fire we created very much a sense of family. And that goes with the wonderful addition of Darren Eales, Dan Ashworth and now we have Peter Silverstone on the commercial side."
Staveley also explained why Newcastle must be wary of the FFP rules and why the Magpies can't go toe to toe with some of their rivals on certain players. Staveley, speaking about the last three windows, said: "We were prudent. "Because we'd have hit our FFP buffer quite quickly because we didn't have the revenues some of the other big clubs have on the commercial side.
"Relegation was absolutely critical. If I did it all again, we probably should have brought in more people more quickly, staff. The players we had to be very careful and analytical with everything we did.
"And we still do that. We have an FFP budget and we keep to that."
Staveley has also reflected on the club's performance in the transfer market and the key areas that had to be prioritised in order to help this season's push for the business end of the table.
She added: "We had to make sure we built the back four so we could play the football Eddie wanted to play. "This fantastic pressing football that we love, exciting attacking football.
"But to do that we had to make sure we could really strengthen because I think we had the weakest defence in the whole league. "Now we have one of the strongest defences in the league.
"So we always want more players but when you are running a football club you don't want to lose the players you've worked with and Eddie's the same so it's really difficult, so we have to do that. The last year has been extraordinary, we were 11th and now we are hoping potentially there might be the chance of Champions League."
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