Glasgow Rangers are up 'shit creek', and Ashley is manning the bucket to bail them out, but the fans (having seen how unpopular the man is on Tyneside) want nothing to do with him.
A top reporter (who wants to remain nameless) told me last month: "You should be very careful what you wish for. Ashley is keeping Newcastle ticking over, and they are in safe hands as long as he is in charge."
But the billionaire never seems to make friends - just enemies.
Now Labour leader Ed Miliband is to turn his fire on the Newcastle United owner's Sports Direct chain, in a major speech attacking “zero hour” contracts.
Mr Miliband will accuse the chain of “Victorian practices” in the way it treats staff.
And he will highlight plans to change the law - so that workers with regular shifts have the legal right to a regular contract, if Labour wins the next election.
He will highlight Sports Direct, which has 400 stores and is estimated to have 17,000 people on zero hours contracts.
Labour leader Ed Miliband (talking to the BBC): “Sports Direct has thousands of its employers on zero-hours contracts, the vast majority of its workforce.
“Sports Direct has predictable turnover, it is a modern company with stores on many high streets and, judging by its success, where many people shop.
“But for too many of its employees, Sports Direct is a bad place to work.
“This is not about exceptional use of zero-hours contracts for short term or seasonal work which some employers and workers may find convenient. This is the way Sports Direct employs the vast majority of its workforce.
“These Victorian practices have no place in the 21st Century.”