Amanda Staveley, a member of Newcastle’s Board of Directors, has shared her thoughts on the decision of Roman Abramovich to sell Chelsea Football Club. The Co-Owner of Newcastle believes that Roman Abramovich’s relationships with others is not enough for him to lose his club.
She believes there will always be political issues and the world is not going to solve all its problems anytime soon. It saddens her that Abramovich would have to go through this.
The British Business Executive said during a Football Summit: “We are always going to have geopolitical issues. This world is never going to not have problems, and I know it is really hard and I am really sad today that someone [Roman Abramovich] is going to have a football club [Chelsea] taken away because of a relationship they may have with someone [Russia president Vladimir Putin]. I do not think that is particularly fair, actually, to be honest.
Ms. Amanda is well known for her ties with investors from the far East and she has helped some to secure the purchase of Newcastle Football Club. She also understands that people must hold their relationships accountable.
“But I also think that we have to hold all of our relationships to account. And I think that we have also got to remember with Saudi [Arabia] that it is an incredibly big, important country that I love. I love the people there. It is a young, vibrant population and I have seen Saudi [Arabia] change so much”.
Amnesty International has raised concerns of Human Rights issues as Suadi Arabia has been involved in the war in Yemen since 2015. Some have claimed that the comments from the Newcastle Co-Owner are ‘Unsurprising’. Even though has ties with people from Saudi, the business woman believes she is only sharing her opinions.
“And I am not talking now as [from a perspective of] Newcastle, I am talking as me. So these are my thoughts because I have really got to know a lot of people, and I am excited that… I would rather everybody look and get excited about football than being involved in war”.
