Duke of York's former date running Dubai campaign to take over Liverpool

Amanda Staveley, 34, is the senior partner at a private equity firm, PCP Capital Partners, chosen by DIC to lead negotiations with the club's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

She briefly attracted public attention for her romance with Prince Andrew, but could soon become one of the most high-profile women in the male world of English football. If DIC can take over Liverpool by buying out Gillett and then Hicks, Staveley will become a director, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Sources close to Staveley are playing down her role, stressing DIC's second attempt to buy Liverpool in 15 months is being driven by the Arab investment company's chief executive, Sameer al-Ansari, a lifelong fan of the club.

But it is Staveley who has led the negotiations, working closely with Al-Ansari, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his right-hand man, Mohammed Al Gergawi.

DIC missed out in its previous attempt to buy the club in February 2007, when Liverpool chairman David Moores opted for Hicks and Gillett.

According to sources close to DIC, discussions with PCP and Staveley about a new bid started last spring. But it was not until October last year that Staveley met with Hicks to discuss a possible investment in the club.

The meeting took place in the stately surroundings of Constable Burton Hall in Yorkshire, near to where Hicks had been shooting. At that stage discussions were focused on DIC buying a minority stake of around 15 per cent and although an offer was made in November, DIC pulled out because of Hicks' £1 billion valuation of the club.

Rather than kill DIC's interest, though, those discussions encouraged them to step up their efforts. As Hicks and Gillett battled to close a £350m refinancing of Liverpool's debts, so DIC and Staveley held talks behind the scenes in an effort to offer the Americans an easy way out.

As a teenager, it was athletics and horse riding, rather than football, that attracted Staveley's sporting attention. Her mother was an international show jumper and, as a 14-year-old sprinter, she competed for her county, running 100 metres in 12.6sec before an injury finished her dreams of competing at the Olympics.

Having studied languages at Cambridge, where she supplemented her student grant with modelling jobs, she started her entrepreneurial career by investing in a restaurant called Stocks.

After spending a year renovating the venue it became a big hit with the racing community travelling to nearby Newmarket. That gave Staveley her first introduction to the wealthy Middle Eastern families with strong connections to racing, particularly Sheikh Maktoum, owner of Godolphin.

She hit trouble when broadband and IT services company EuroTelecom slid into administration just 11 months after raising £17 million by floating on the Stock Market, but it was around the same time that she first met Prince Andrew over a lunch at Cambridge Science Park involving the King of Jordan.

Although the relationship was said to be very close - according to some reports at the time it was the main reason why the Duchess of York moved out of their home with their daughters - it broke down after a few months.

That first taste of the tabloid spotlight may equip her for the attention she is certain to attract if DIC land Liverpool and Staveley emerges as a key figure in the new regime.