Amanda Staveley's year goes from bad to worse after leaving Newcastle United this summer

Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi's departure from Newcastle United earlier this year seemingly came out of nowhere and took fans by surprise.

The husband and wife pair were reportedly always set to step back from the club at some point, their 'decision' to step back this summer seemed very sudden and far too early.

Staveley and Ghodoussi were hugely popular with Newcastle fans for their open dialogue with supporters and their hand-on involvement with the community. In fact, since they left the communication between the club and the fans has been pretty poor - not quite the levels of the Mike Ashley days, but still lacking.

It was later reported by Craig Hope that Staveley and Ghodoussi, who had already whittled down their shares, were in fact pushed out of the club after Darren Eales complained to Yasir Al-Rumayyan that he felt he couldn't do his job effectively with interference from Staveley.

PCP Capital Partners has been forced into liquidation

Initially, the split seemed amicable with carefully crafted statements from both signs wishing their best, but Amanda Staveley's posts on social media afterwards certainly hinted that she didn't want to leave the club.

Yesterday, the Financial Times (via The Chronicle) reported that PCP Captial Partners, Staveley's business that brokered the takeover deal, now known as Apollo Belvedere Services, is being forced into liquidation as a result of an on-going legal dispute with Greek shipping magnate Victor Restis.

Restis has been chasing Staveley for money owed following a loan for a while, and it was believed that was the reason for Staveley sell part of her shares in Newcastle United to fund the payback. However, Restis still believed he was owed more and pursued the case to the point where Staveley has now been forced to liquidate the business and auditors will conduct investigations into the business and Staveley's ownership.

They must have seen this coming

This had been hanging over Staveley for a long time and could well have been another reason why the decision was made to sever ties with the club.

Premier League rules forbid club owners from ever being bankrupt, and while Staveley isn't quite at that point yet, who knows what could happen as a result of these investigations?

Regardless, it would have been a bad look for the club to have one of the businesses with controlling shares being forced into liquidation. From the outside, it looks like insiders at the club saw this coming and acted quickly.

It's a huge shame and we hope that Staveley and Ghodoussi can ride it out and come out okay on the other side.