The Magpies had a frustrating winter transfer window, despite signing five players, as they were chasing a number of top targets and faced disappointment in several pursuits.
Newcastle were criticised by some for being too ambitious and they missed out on several of their targets, including Botman, who was their priority defensive option.
They also wanted to sign Lingard but they were put off by Manchester United’s financial demands for a potential loan deal.
Staveley stressed that Newcastle had to work hard to convince players to join a club who were in the bottom three during the winter window.
However, she insists that both Botman and Lingard were more than willing to move to St. James’ Park in January.
The Newcastle co-owner told The Athletic: “We had to encourage players – ‘we’ll be a safe place for you, we’ll deliver and grow’. Some desperately wanted to come to us, like Sven [Botman], who still does very much and has talked very openly about that.
“Coming through all that showed us we can do it, that we can stick to our plan and if we get criticised on the last day for ‘oh, you’re going after Jesse [Lingard]’, well, Jesse wanted to come to us.
“We did everything. We never stopped. From the start to the finish, we did not stop working.”
It remains to be seen whether they can get either of the two players in the summer if they survive in the Premier League this season.
