Who is Amanda Staveley and is she buying Spurs?

British business executive Amanda Staveley has been linked with a bid to buy Tottenham Hotspur - although the club have publicly denied that they are up for sale.

One of her most noble business moves has been helping to lead the Saudi Public Investment Fund's takeover of Newcastle United in 2021.

Staveley was a 10% shareholder of Newcastle following the takeover and held a minority share in the club, alongside husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi, until the duo departed in July 2024.

At the time of Staveley and Ghodoussi's departure and sale of their shares, the pair held a stake of just 6% of the club.

On Sunday, Spurs' board released a statement to say they had "received and unequivocally rejected" approaches from two parties, one of which being Staveley's PCP International Finance Limited.

On Monday, PCP said that it did not intend to purchase Tottenham.

Prior to her involvement in Newcastle, Staveley was involved in an investment in Barclays bank in 2008 and also worked as part of Sheikh Mansour's takeover of Manchester City in the same year.

Amanda Staveley has been searching for "great opportunities" since leaving Newcastle last summer.

She clearly felt that Spurs fitted such a description – even before chairman Daniel Levy's departure - given the club's stature, potential and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Spurs have also been something of an outlier as a major Premier League club who have not changed hands in the last decade-and-a-half.

But ENIC are adamant that will continue to be the case after Staveley showed a "preliminary expression of interest".

It is worth noting that Staveley does not tend to give up.

For context, she spent the best part of four years attempting to broker a deal for Newcastle and the consortium even returned to the table after announcing that they had pulled out at one stage.

But, even if it is not to be Spurs, this interest highlights the desire of Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi to get back into football at the very highest level following their spell at Newcastle.

Staveley spoke of Newcastle one day challenging for titles and the Champions League just hours after taking over the day-to-day running of a stripped-back club in deep relegation trouble in 2021.

She went on to play an important role in Newcastle's resurgence and was heavily involved in the appointment of Eddie Howe as head coach, following a failed attempt to bring in Unai Emery, as well as the negotiations to bring in several key players, including Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Tino Livramento.

Staveley and Ghodoussi's departures therefore came as a shock last summer following a change in ownership structure, which led to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the Reuben Family purchasing their shares.

The pair remain Newcastle fans – and were at Wembley to witness the Carabao Cup final back in March – but they are clearly determined to return to the frontline.

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