Dix made his feelings felt on the BBC "Look North" programme on Thursday evening, while Sir John Hall spoke on BBC Radio Newcastle on Friday morning.Hall's BBC Radio Newcastle Interview
Dix made his feelings felt on the BBC "Look North" programme on Thursday evening, while Sir John Hall spoke on BBC Radio Newcastle on Friday morning.Former chairman Hall this week finally cut his financial ties with the club in a deal that had netted his family £55million.
Ashley, the owner of Sports Direct International with an estimated worth of £1.9billion, has made an offer to Freddy Shepherd but so far the chairman has refused to sell.
Hall, who revealed he had rebuffed a number of rival bids, insists he would not have sold his stake had he not believed Ashley to be the right man to take the club forward.
Sir John Hall: "We've a had a few people come to us - quite a few - but many of them weren't the right ones for the club. I feel basically Mike Ashley and his team - they're the right ones. He'll take us to, in my view, a new dimension.
"I'm certain he'll be good for the club or I wouldn't have sold to him.
"Even if he is quiet, he knows the passion of the fans, he knows how much it means on Tyneside. I've talked to him enough to be assured they've got the passion for the club as we all have.
"You can't run a club without being attached to it. You can't run a club without feeling for it because it is about people, it's about the passion of the people.
He knows the supporters are passionate.
"He's very much like me in a way. He's a self-made man, a very, very hard worker, a nice chap. He knows sport. He's 42 now and look what he's done. He's got this global business and global interest in sport.
"They've got to go for the rest of the shares. If they get them, I'm sure they'll invest. He wants to buy the club. He's made a takeover bid for the rest of the shares and it's now up to the rest of the directors to decide what to do.
"Someone like him will probably like control to make the investment.
"I think I've done the best thing but one can never tell. I'm 74 now and for some time I've felt the family need to take a new direction. It's been known we've wanted to sell our shares and move on to other things.
"We probably ran out of ideas a bit. You've got to make changes every now and again. There's no room for old men. I've got a lot of experience but it's a young man's game."