So now the focus is back on Ashley, he is unloved, untrusted and out of time on Tyneside but he remains...

Reporter MIKE Ashley has walked away from talks with Amanda Staveley – and back into a mess of his own making at Newcastle United.

Ashley’s people never made any bones about their scepticism surrounding Staveley and PCP Capital Partners, who have played their own part in a sorry mess that leaves United fans – once again – feeling like the only losers.

Staveley may have a bruised ego after big talk has amounted to little, but it is the club that is damaged by the draining uncertainty that has infected a season that was supposed to be a celebratory return to the top flight.

The truth is Staveley was given the benefit of the doubt because she wasn’t Ashley. A friend of Theresa May and Richard Desmond with unspecified wealth and links, she didn’t feel like a natural fit for United. But she made the right noises speaking to fans’ groups, and links to Rafa Benitez meant she looked like a viable and preferable alternative to an owner who has been absent since a summer when he first raised the possibility of a sale through his preferred channel – Sky Sports.

For his part he can expect little sympathy from Newcastle fans who will point to a litany of broken promises on his watch and a club that has shrunk.

Ashley has too much previous. He has made too many mistakes and even here, his claims about negotiating through the media ring hollow. Was it not Ashley who told Sky – through sources – that he would back Benitez whatever happened with the takeover? Sixteen days in, we’re still waiting.

It is a messy and damaging situation. But whether Ashley’s strong words about Staveley’s proposal are right or not – and there is reason to be cynical about the motivation of both – the blame