Amanda Staveley had FSG plan after fueling takeover speculation by attending Liverpool match

Liverpool found itself negotiating with Amanda Staveley earlier this summer as it tried to secure a transfer for Anthony Gordon. It’s not the first time the club has had dealings with the former Newcastle co-owner .

Staveley has opened up on the talks that broke down earlier in the summer between Liverpool and Newcastle, and has admitted she feared Gordon would head to Anfield . Discussions broke down when the Magpies wanted Jarell Quansah in return.

Newcastle had been in the position of needing to raise funds in order to meet the Premier League ’s profit and sustainability regulations, raising the possibility of the club offloading some of its stars. They would eventually avoid any immediate problems by offloading Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson, although Staveley had feared the worst.

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"My biggest concern was that we'd lose Alex (Isak) or Anthony (Gordon) because Liverpool chased him and both are extraordinary players," Staveley told The Athletic . "Negotiating is tough because you have to pretend it means nothing to you when it means everything."

Staveley has since left Newcastle after she and Mehrdad Ghodoussi sold their shares in the club, having taken a 10 per cent stake when they helped orchestrate the Saudi-backed takeover in 2021. Before that though, they had set their sights on Liverpool.

Staveley admitted there had been an attempt to take over the Reds following a visit to St James’ Park in 2017. She had been invited as a guest of Rafa Benitez as Newcastle took on Liverpool, and saw it as an opportunity to tease FSG ’s chiefs John Henry and Tom Werner .

“I remember walking up to St James’ and it was just immediate,” she said. “I started to get goosebumps. It was the vibrancy, seeing the town. The people were so warm and friendly and you just felt like you were at home. There was a crazy feeling of, ‘Wow, this place is special’.

“I’ve joked about this to John (Henry) and Tom (Werner), we kind of went there to p*ss them off because we had been trying to buy Liverpool and we couldn’t get it!

“But when we arrived there was just an immediate feeling of so much potential. I loved the stadium, this big cathedral on the hill, and it was so full and so passionate.

"It needed love and investment, but you could feel the excitement. I just thought, ‘There’s so much you could do’.”