A MAN who is the double of Mike Ashley was attacked in a pub after being mistaken for the hated Newcastle United owner.

Season-ticket holder Alan McKenna, 37, was enjoying a quiet drink with his cousins in the Chicago Rock Café, Chester-le-Street, when a man who thought he was Mr Ashley, took a swing at him.

The married father-of-two, from Low Fell, said he was approached by two men, one who asked if he was the Newcastle owner.

He said: “I knew there was going to be trouble because they seemed drunk and aggressive.

“They weren’t just joking about it.

“I just laughed, trying to make light of the situation, and said ‘no’.”

But the man did not believe him and tried to take a punch at him.

Mr McKenna said: “He didn’t manage to hit me because a couple of the lads I was with had managed to wrestle him away.

“I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that someone would do that. But now it keeps happening.”

Just a week later, at Saturday’s home game against Hull, Alan was accosted in the toilets at St James’ Park by another unhappy fan.

“I went to the toilets and while I was in there a guy came up to me and said ‘how did you get in here you sneaky fat bastard’?”

Mr McKenna, a restaurateur, said he actually met Mr Ashley in a lift at St James’ Park last season.

He said: “We had a bit of a laugh and I met him again a couple of weeks later at the Fulham game.

“My restaurant, McKenna’s at the Northern Stage in Newcastle, had sponsored that game and Mike came down to chat to us.

“He stayed for about an hour-and-a-half, talking and having pictures taken.

“Mike was winding some girls up, saying that I was his brother. We had a laugh – he is a nice bloke and he has got a good sense of humour.”

Mr McKenna added: “I have been mistaken for Mike Ashley quite a lot even though I don’t think we are that similar.

“When he was popular, people would often come and pat me on the back if I was walking through Newcastle, telling me what a great job I was doing. But now the abuse has really started.

“I think I’m going to have to get a Newcastle shirt with ‘I’m not Mike’ on the back.

“I never used to mind looking like Mike Ashley but after all this abuse, I’ve changed my mind.”