Newcastle sale hinges on club staying up

Mike Ashley, the Newcastle United owner, will renew his efforts to sell the club as soon as manager Rafa Benitez has made sure of Premier League survival.

Newcastle will take a giant leap towards safety if they can beat Huddersfield Town at St James’ Park tomorrow. Newcastle have lost only to Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool since Christmas and are four points and five places clear of the drop zone.

Ashley, though, is still keen to sever ties with the club he bought in 2007 and will restart the search for a buyer before the summer, as long as relegation is no longer a danger. The Daily Telegraph understands that there has been tentative interest from at least two new parties in the last few weeks, but everything remains on hold until both sides know which division Newcastle will be in next season.

Encouragingly for supporters, who are desperate to see a change of direction in the boardroom, the promise of wider interest means it is more likely Ashley will be able to sell before the summer transfer window opens in July. That is something that is seen as vital as the new owners need to, realistically, be in place before then to have the best chance of strengthening the squad.

For the first time, English clubs will only have until Aug 9 to sign and sell players before the start of next season following a vote to shorten the transfer window.

Talks with one prospective buyer, financier Amanda Staveley, collapsed at the end of last year, with Ashley releasing a statement in which he described the attempts to reach a deal with her PCP Capital firm as a “waste of time”.

Whether Benitez is willing to sign a new contract also remains to be seen. Talks to extend his current deal, which will have just 12 months left to run in June, have not taken place, despite the fact the Newcastle hierarchy have expressed a desire to settle the matter.

Benitez has been exasperated at the end of the last three transfer windows and trust needs to be restored. He is likely to wait to see what happens with a takeover before making any decision on his own future at St James’ Park.