MIKE Ashley flew back in to England yesterday with his hopes of arranging a quick sale of Newcastle United having been dashed.

And with a swift resolution to the current crisis extremely unlikely, the Magpies owner will attempt to install a senior coach to work alongside caretaker manager Chris Hughton in the immediate aftermath of tomorrow’s trip to West Ham.

Ashley has spent the majority of this week in the Middle East attempting to broker a deal with a number of Dubai and Abu Dhabi-based consortia, but was forced to return empty-handed when his discussions failed to progress beyond a formative stage.

Accompanied by executive director Dennis Wise and vice-president Tony Jimenez, the sportswear magnate met a number of well-placed Arab intermediaries, but his attempts to engineer a sale were scuppered by his refusal to lower his £480m asking price for the Magpies.

Potential investors are aware that Ashley spent £130m to gain sole ownership of the club, and invested around £110m to write off a significant proportion of Newcastle’s debts, so there has been an und e r s t a n d - able reluctance to match the e x o r b i t a n t figures that are understood to have been mentioned as the starting point for any discussions.

To make matters worse for the Magpies, a senior Middle Eastern source has confirmed that three separate valuation reports were widely circulated around the region prior to Abu Dhabi United Group completing their takeover of Manchester City.

Those reports, one of which was compiled by a Britishbased financial firm, BDO Stoy Howard, all valued the six or s e v e n Premier L e a g u e clubs that are considered to be viable takeover targets.

At least two of the reports value Newcastle United at no more than £200m, considerably less than 50 per cent of the fee that Ashley is hoping to realise from the club’s sale.

A representative of Zabeel Holdings, an investment company owned by Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, is understood to have expressed an interest in a possible £200m purchase, only for Ashley to refuse to discuss the offer any further.

No further talks are planned, with Ashley’s personal reputation also having taken something of a battering during three unsuccessful days in the Persian Gulf.

The Newcastle owner was photographed in a bar during the Holy month of Ramadan – something that has not gone down well in Islamic circles – and has been ridiculed for his unsuccessful attempts to secure a one-to-one meeting with some of the most powerful business figures in the world.

A Dubai-based source said: “To be honest, the whole thing’s become a bit of a laughing stock over here.

Firstly, nobody just flies over to Dubai and gets to meet the type of people that Mr Ashley seems to have been interested in linking up with.

“That just doesn’t happen.

Gordon Brown couldn’t just jump on a plane and speak to them – so I don’t know why the owner of Newcastle United thought he could.

“And if you are trying to set up meetings, you do it discreetly.

“You don’t go having your picture taken in a bar at goodness knows what time of the evening.”

Organising a quick sale of the club became Ashley’s preferred course of action after he released a statement confirming his desire to relinquish his ownership on Sunday evening.

However, with that now extremely unlikely, the Londoner will act quickly at the start of next week to ensure that the current uncertainty does not plunge Newcastle into the heart of a relegation battle.

One development has seen a team of ambitious businessmen express an interest in buying the club and run it in the same way as Barcelona.

Fronted by midlandsbased Magpies fan Peter Lee, they’re planning to buy the club before selling 300,000 shares to fellow fans for £1,000 each. In exchange, they would be given a vote on important decisions.

Lee, who has advised the Government and is a guest lecturer at a leading English university, said the group of organisers is made up of four people whose identities are being kept secret at this stage.

With few potential managers interested in taking on a position that could disappear if the Magpies were to be sold, Ashley has accepted that he will not be able to appoint a permanent successor to Kevin Keegan for the foreseeable future.

However, with Hughton currently sharing managerial duties with Academy manager Richard Money and coach Alan Thompson, he will attempt to appoint at least one experienced coach ahead of next Wednesday’s Carling Cup third-round tie with Tottenham.

That coach is unlikely to be Alan Curbishley, whose name was circulated yesterday, but it could be former Leeds boss David O’Leary, a friend of managing director Derek Llambias. Interestingly, the name of former England and Middlesbrough manager Terry Venables has also been discussed.

Hughton will complete his preparations for tomorrow’s game at Upton Park this afternoon, and having been given no time-frame for his caretaker role, the former Tottenham number two admits it would be better if a permanent solution was found sooner rather than later.

“From a personal point of view, the most important thing is that we start to get some stability at the club,”

said Hughton. “I go along with everybody who seems to be saying the same thing.

The sooner a decision is made on who will be the permanent manager, it will be for the better.”

There was at least some good news for the Magpies’ temporary boss yesterday when Damien Duff came through a lengthy training session to confirm his availability for the trip to Upton Park.

Obafemi Martins will be assessed this morning after returning to light training, but the Nigeria international is likely to be on the bench at best as Newcastle look to bounce back from last weekend’s dispiriting home defeat to Hull.

There was worse news regarding Alan Smith, as tests have confirmed the England international has suffered a stress fracture in his foot that will require surgery and leave him out for three months.