MIKE ASHLEY has spoken of a dream to guide Newcastle United into the Champions League after suggesting he is likely to own the Tyneside club for a “good while longer”.

In an interview with Sky Sports, the Magpies owner admitted to making mistakes during his ten years including sacking Sam Allardyce prematurely and renaming St James’ Park.

Now he insists he is focused on trying to give Rafael Benitez, who he feels is the man to take Newcastle forward, the “building blocks” to achieve during his time in charge.

Ashley would be more than happy to listen to offers to sell up but he does not think there are the people out there in a better position than he is as things stand.

He said: “If somebody currently would like to come along and take this seat, sit here and fund Newcastle with a nought on their wealth more than me then I would not stand in Newcastle United’s way.

“One of the reasons for doing this interview is that I don’t think there are many people out there who will actually stand up and do it. So I think, Newcastle fans, we are going to be together a good while longer.

“We have the man himself at the moment in Rafa and let’s hope we can generate some funds and help Rafa to have a chance to put some building blocks in place.”

Ashley, smiling and looking relaxed, spoke of what he would love to see happen over the next few years, including producing more homegrown players to grace the St James’ Park surface – and win some silverware.

He said: “I love being involved in it and there was that high point under Alan Pardew where we could have finished third on the final day, we could have been in the Champions League and we could have been rolling.

“Now I feel like I am sitting on the top floor of a bus looking out of the window. I really have negligible input on what happens at the club football wise now.

“For me I want to build Newcastle, if I had my dream, I want to produce Andy Carrols. Look at Southampton and see the players they produce, not like Leicester, but Southampton. Their academy bring good players through, it almost has to be separate for the main club.

“I actually now believe we will look to mid-table this season and maybe make the cups a priority this season. It would be nice to be able to win something other than the Championship trophy. The dream would always still be to qualify for the Champions League though.”

And when he looks back Ashley admits to being naïve in certain situations particularly with the decisions he made.

The sportswear tycoon said: “For example, I thought it was the right thing to do was to generate as much money as possible for Newcastle, so when people say to me: 'Whatever you do on an interview do not talk about changing the name of St James' Park!' Well I'm me, and I'm going to talk about making an error, and I should not have changed the name of St James' Park. I should not have done that.

"Football is not all about making money and reinvesting it into football clubs, it has a very strange balance to it. I wanted to get naming rights, get money in and invest it into the club.

"The reality is, the vast majority of the Geordie fans would rather have the name of St James' Park and finish maybe one or two places lower in the table, because they want to keep it special.

"You begin to learn that the special side of Newcastle means a little bit more than the ultimate end performance on the pitch."