I T'S an open secret in football that Mike Ashley has been wanting out of Newcastle United for a few years now.

Which is why he tied up manager Alan Pardew and his backroom staff on eye-watering, eight-year contracts. The logic in his eyes was simple: he felt he would have moved on by now and any future fallout would be the new owner's problem.

Most millionaire businessmen don't worry too much about what anybody else thinks and that is the kind of guy Ashley is, an observation which Rangers supporters may recognise. At first, the Geordie fans didn't like him or trust him. Soon after that, when things had turned around on the park, they were chanting his name. That was when he was wearing a Newcastle strip to games, standing among the punters and even putting money behind the bar when he went for a drink.

Now, with results going badly again, he is hugely unpopular, with fans putting pressure on him to get rid of Pardew.

People might question why you would want to get rid of a Barclays Premier League club when there is so much money sloshing around there and trade all that for control of Rangers, but I think he wanted to leave St James' Park on a high, and was asking for an astronomical amount to sell the club. No-one has met his valuation so he has been stuck with it.

Having said all that, I don't quite get the full picture as to why the Rangers fans don't like him. I understand they are unsure who to trust, and have been deceived so many times. You can't really blame them for that, but this is a guy with a bit of financial clout who deserves to be taken seriously. The main objection seems to be the suspicion that Ashley has had some kind of connection to Charles Green due to the advantageous deals he negotiated with Rangers while Green was at the helm. By all accounts, Green gave him the naming rights to Ibrox for a pound, something which Ashley has yet to take up. Ashley also agreed a seven-year deal with Sports Direct for the Rangers' retail outlets and recently made an unsuccessful attempt to buy the rights to the Rangers' brand and crest in return for an emergency loan.

But if he has proven to be a shrewd businessman then I don't think supporters should hold that against him. Ashley has shown a keen eye for a deal, something he has done throughout his career. I wouldn't presume to tell Rangers fans what to think, but while I understand their reservations, you also have to remember what he can bring to the party. This guy has good corporate credentials and is running a large football club. Yes, Newcastle might not be doing well on the pitch right now, but they aren't badly off as a business. Given Rangers' current predicament, I wouldn't be turning away from him just yet, shutting the door and saying no thanks.

He has certainly given Pardew money to play with. Don't get me wrong, Newcastle have recouped millions from the multi-million pound transfers of Yohan Cabaye to PSG, Andy Carroll to Liverpool and Demba Ba to Chelsea, but he has mined the French market successfully. He might be able to bring money into Rangers and attract a better calibre of player.

The SFA have brought some problems upon themselves over the years, but I feel sorry for them on this occasion having been asked to sort out the Rangers situation all over again. Rangers fans want the SFA to act to make sure Ashley can't take control, but again the association are left weighing up their priorities amid the risk of the club going back into administration or liquidation. Ultimately, though, they are duty-bound to enforce their own rules on dual ownership, just like they did in the late 1980s when Ken Bates was forced to step back from Partick Thistle because of his ownership of Chelsea. Once you make the rules, I don't think you can bend them in mid-season.

In the other Ibrox corner are Dave King, Paul Murray and George Letham and, of course, the Rangers fans would prefer them to take control because they are Rangers men who naturally have the interests of the club at heart. But they have been on the scene for ages. Shrewd businessmen themselves, they clearly want to start from scratch and not be weighed down with millions of pounds of debt before they get started.

The ideal scenario for Rangers fans might be if all the factions could work together, but Ashley seems to be bringing things to a head. He has upped his interest in the club - he now owns just short of 9% - and called for an EGM to ask for the removal of chief executive Graham Wallace and financial consultant Philip Nash. It might all be to do with his sportswear business, a desire to protect his retail interests. But for me Ashley is biding his time to buy Rangers and move on from Newcastle, it's just the timings are not working out for him.

The Ibrox fans must be careful they don't rule out someone who could bring the kind of financial security they are desperate for.