Chatting with ecstatic fans, posing for selfies and speaking to the media outside the Jesmond Dene Hotel, Amanda Staveley wasted no time in ushering in a new era on Tyneside last October. A Newcastle United owner communicating with supporters? The type of behaviour that was totally alien for well over a decade under the previous regime.
Within minutes of that infamous Premier League statement landing, Staveley was also parked in front of local and national media making a plethora of promises to a fanbase who in turn were hanging on her every word. Grand plans were drawn up by the consortium, who had years to agonise over which steps to take after numerous failed attempts of getting their hands on the club. And they have delivered already after only six months.
“I’ll be very hands-on, very hands-on. I won’t be picking football players, but I will be very hands-on on the commercial side, on running the club, on making sure that we deliver a business plan and a strategy that helps drive the commercial revenues that allow us to invest in players," Staveley declared in one of her many TV interviews on the day of the takeover.
