Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley has accused former manager Steve Bruce of not wanting to return to work after being taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Bruce held a meeting with the new owners at the training ground the day after the takeover was confirmed in October 2021, where he told them that in order to give the new regime a fresh start he should be sacked as manager.
Bruce, who was already facing calls for his removal from angry supporters before the takeover was completed, was persuaded to continue and was in the dugout for the first match of the new era, a 4-2 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. That was his thousandth game as manager but he was sacked a few days later, with first-team coach Graeme Jones given temporary charge until the appointment of Eddie Howe three weeks later.
When asked how long it took for them to change things after the takeover at Bloomberg’s Power Player forum in Jeddah, Staveley replied: “Pretty quickly. When you go in you have the hype of trying to take over the club and it took us four years to do that. So you need to know that we are patient and we were persistent, but dramatic change was needed.
“The club was run in a very different format and we had very little commercial income. We had an aging team, a coach who didn’t want to, didn’t even want to come to work. We had a fan base that was very angry. And we had to take this incredible club and inject some life into it.”
Telegraph Sport has approached Bruce for comment on Staveley’s claim.
Staveley: ‘If you overregulate, you can slow down growth’
Staveley also argued that it is time for some “new thinking” when it comes to the restrictions imposed by the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, as they hinder the overall growth of the league as a global product.
Newcastle have the richest owners in English football in the form of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which owns a controlling stake of 80 percent, but their vast financial resources have been largely rendered meaningless by PSR.
The club were unable to sign any new players in the January transfer window and are likely to have to sell some key members of Eddie Howe’s first-team squad as they struggle to stay within the parameters of the Premier League’s PSR. Clubs are allowed to post losses of just £105m over three years and several clubs are struggling to stay within those limits.
The same problems have led to possible points deductions for Everton and Nottingham Forest this season, while the likes of Aston Villa and Chelsea are also in danger of breaking the rules as they try to keep pace with the four richest clubs in England. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool.
Speaking at Bloomberg’s Power Players forum in Jeddah, Staveley was pointed out that the Premier League’s revenues were only equal to those of the US National Hockey League, the fourth most popular sport in the United States.
She warned that it would be potentially damaging to the Premier League brand to have ambitious clubs such as Aston Villa and Newcastle – who unexpectedly finished fourth last season to qualify for the Champions League – whose owners have the wealth to compete with the so-called Big Six to keep the title in hand. best players, but cannot freely invest in their company.
“We all need to do more to ensure we grow our revenues,” Staveley said. “I think there has been a lot more focus from the Premier League owners on making sure we grow our commercial revenue. And our media and as a product we should be much more aggressive. There will be a supervisor and there will be much more attention to sustainability.
“Sometimes over-regulation can slow down growth and I think we need to make sure that we find the right balance between the right regulatory environment, the right rules and the right financial fair play rules that promote growth. That’s the only way you get good football.
“Basically the one thing about the last few seasons in the Premier League is that every club can win every game. Fine. That means you get incredibly exciting football. We have to deliver a great product. You’ll have to ask the management team where they want to go in terms of making the Premier League even better.
“It’s a difficult time because there is so much focus on sustainability that people have actually forgotten that we provide entertainment and that we need to grow this business. It’s not easy… football is difficult. You have very restrictive financial fair play rules, you have so many rules and restrictions regarding player purchases. So a fresh look is really needed.”
Staveley: ‘I’m pretty sure there will be a Saudi club in the Champions League’
Newcastle’s growth has been further limited by new rules designed to make it harder for owners to pump money into their clubs through sponsorship deals with related parties. Manchester City have the highest revenues in England, largely thanks to the benefits of these types of deals, but Saudi Arabia has been stymied in its attempts to do what Abu Dhabi did more than a decade ago.
However, Staveley confirmed that PIF are still looking at potential clubs abroad to bring a new multi-club format under the same umbrella as Newcastle United, something that City’s owners have pioneered.
“I think we are very much (looking at a multi-club model),” Staveley added. “Multi-clubs are part of football, it is a great advantage to be able to have players and train players who are not part of your squad.
“UEFA rules are changing and so we have to see what emerges. Obviously the dynamic around whether we can have a club has changed quite dramatically in the last year. I’m still a big fan of the multi-club model. “Many other competitors and friends in the Premier League have multi-club relationships but it has to be seen as one.”
“We looked at Belgium, we looked at a lot of European markets, we looked at Asia, Australia, we looked at Brazil – pretty much everything. We have looked at every market to see and get players through our academy system, and through that multi-club model it would be very useful to allow us to buy and have players as part of our journey earlier.”
Meanwhile, the 50-year-old financier claimed it is only a matter of time before a club from Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Pro League can play in European club competitions.
She said: “I’m pretty sure there will be a Saudi club in the Champions League. I don’t know how long, but knowing Saudi Arabia I don’t think it will be too long.”