FORMER Newcastle United chairman Sir John Hall has sympathy for Mike Ashley, but revealed the club’s owner always saw the Magpies as a brand to market his Sport Direct business overseas.

Hall insists Ashley, who has become a hate figure on Tyneside since Kevin Keegan’s departure from the club, arrived with the best of intentions.

But with Ashley now looking to sell the club – with a clutch of overseas consortia reportedly vying to purchase it – Hall is increasingly concerned about the influx of big-money buyers with little or no emotional attachment to the game.

‘‘Newcastle was a brand to him and he wanted to use it to market his business abroad – he had a long term vision,” said Hall.

‘‘He’s a good businessman but a novice in the game, as I was when I first came into the game.

‘‘When I met Mike Ashley and his advisors they had the best intentions for the club. He wanted to stay there and develop it so I feel sad for him and sad for the club.

‘‘When he bought the shares I had lots of talks with him and his team. He was coming in to build for the long run and he is a football fan.”

New manager Joe Kinnear also had sympathy with the situation Ashley finds himself in.

“He has had a lot of flak”, said Kinnear. “He is someone who has bought a football club and put a lot of money into it, put £200m into it, and he can’t come to watch his own club.

“This is a big club and I know they want success. There is always someone who has to carry the can. Such is life as it is.

“We would all like to be instantly saying how wonderful it is and me saying how wonderful everything it but it wouldn’t be the true story.”

Hall, meanwhile, is concerned about the possibility of a foreign consortium taking control of the Magpies with no understanding about the passion of the fans.

“Roman Abramovich changed the game forever,” said Hall. “There’s nobody in Britain wealthy enough who’d be interested in investing.

“Even Mike Ashley was struggling and £200m is a lot of money.

‘‘No way can the rest of the clubs compete. The debate at Newcastle will be simple – should they try and compete with the super-rich?

‘‘It’s affecting the game . . .

can anyone compete? I think they are fools if they try.

‘‘The Premier League clubs are being bought as toys, they’ll have them for a few years then throw them away, that’s my view.

‘‘These people don’t know the passion of the fans. The Premier League is a tremendous brand but I fear for the game and for the fans.’’