Amanda Staveley looks to have been eyeing a return to the Premier League with Tottenham after leaving Newcastle United in the summer of 2024. The 50-year-old was integral to the majority takeover of the Magpies nearly four years ago with the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
At the time, Newcastle had no chief executive or sporting director which saw Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi given a rolling management contract to handle the day-to-day running of the club.
That resulted in strong relationships being built with the playing and coaching staff which saw Staveley, in particular, become the face of the new ownership.
It was therefore no surprise, her departure was met with sadness by those associated with Newcastle. However, it was a feeling of optimism for many at Tottenham with many hopeful she would want to get back into Premier League football and could therefore also lead a takeover of Tottenham.
In the 12 or so months following her exit, Staveley has appeared to hold informal discussions over potentially becoming a minority shareholder in Spurs with the club open to outside investment. However, talk of a full takeover by Staveley and others has ramped up since the surprise exit of Daniel Levy as chairman.
With Tottenham valued at £4bn, the 50-year-old would require significant funds from elsewhere to launch a takeover bid especially as her estimated net worth is only £130million. It looks as though she has found that with Sky News claiming that conversations with potential backers have taken place over the last few weeks.
As football.london understands, ENIC currently have no plans to sell but that has not stopped bids being made. PCP International Finance, of which Staveley is associated with, was one of the companies to make a takeover approach, as confirmed in a Tottenham statement on Sunday evening.
The club announced it had "received, and unequivocally rejected, separate preliminary expressions of interest in relation to proposals to acquire the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of ENIC from (i) PCP International Finance... and (ii) a consortium of investors led by Dr. Roger Kennedy and Wing-Fai Ng through Firehawk Holdings Limited".
The statement added: "The Board of the Club and ENIC confirm that Tottenham Hotspur is not for sale and ENIC has no intention to accept any such offer to acquire its interest in the Club."