ANIL AMBANI TOONS UP

And he won’t be buying pints in the Bigg Market’s bars and flesh pots. But what billionaire Anil Ambani will do is turn Newcastle into a club that can finally mount the kind of challenge at the top of the Premier League the most devoted fans in the country have dreamed about.

£260million battle for Newcastle - Click here for full story

Who is Ambani? - Click here for full story

Ambani, 49, is the man behind one of the two potential £260million bids to buy out Toon owner Mike Ashley and transform English football’s greatest under-achievers.

India’s second richest man — who has a personal fortune of £21BILLION — has been in negotiations with Ashley for several weeks, and has made it perfectly clear he will rival Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in the spending stakes.

A figure of around £150m has been discussed in Ambani’s inner circle with the telecoms magnate only too happy to sanction such a sum for players.

And he can afford it.

Desire

He is TWICE as rich as Blues’ billionaire owner Abramovich, who has a personal fortune of just £11b.

Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom) is the largest supplier of mobile phones on the sub-continent and one of India’s most successful companies in a market that rivals China as the biggest boom economy in the world.

Ambani — the 2006 Businessman of the Year — moves in the same powerful circles in India as Red Rom does in Russia. He is a friend and confidante of politicians as well as one of the most successful businessmen of the last decade.

He is married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munim and one of his two sons is at a private school in Kent.

But Ambani is not alone in his desire to make Ashley and offer he cannot refuse.

From the Far East, comes the Profitable Group, a strategic global investment company that has made a name for itself as one of the shrewdest dealers in a fluctuating market — and who now has eyes on a Premier League prize.

In their armoury is Steve McMahon. The ex-Liverpool star made a name for himself as a TV pundit in Singapore working for ESPN.

The Scouser has been appointed Profitable’s Commercial Director in charge of strategic sports investment.

Faithful

McMahon gives Profitable, who targeted Everton earlier this year, an important weapon in any takeover talks — a man who knows football clubs inside out and who can provide Profitable with vital insight.

What both sides deliver, though, is a get-out for Ashley.

For all his good intentions when he shelled out £130m to buy Newcastle in July last year, it has become increasingly obvious Ashley has struggled to fulfil the dreams of the Toon Army.

Admittedly, those dreams bordered on the rabid, but they bore no relation to the plans Ashley had.

He envisioned a club run on an ethos of good housekeeping, conservative spending and a reliance of young, home-grown talent with potential sell-on profit.

Ashley’s cause hasn’t been helped by his dependance on a London-based cabal of Dennis Wise, Tony Jiminez and Derek Llambias, alienating the Tyneside faithful even after the return of Kevin Keegan.

What the black-and-white faithful will think of their beloved club being run from Mumbai or Singapore is another thing.

But what will keep them happy is a determination by the prospective new owners to supercharge St James’ Park with a cash injection that dwarfs Ashley’s. Certainly, RCom are comfortable discussing their plans to not only book a permanent place in the Champions League but also a Toon invasion of India.

It is the last great untapped audience for English football and Ambani’s advisers have seen the massive potential of an exclusive stake in a market numbering billions.

RCom already have a major stake in India’s entertainment market, and also own power plants and financial services companies.

Analysts

While Profitable Group will still have a major say in any Toon takeover, RCom’s bid is further down the line.

There is a widespread belief from those closest to the potential deal that papers drawn up by Ambani’s legal team could even be lodged with Ashley’s lawyers by next week.

That would open the door for RCom to proceed with due diligence — and be a concrete step towards buying out Buckinghamshire-born Ashley.

Ashley made it clear last month he would be happy to talk to any investors who could ease his financial burden.

But neither RCom nor Profitable are interested in sharing Newcastle — they want to own it outright.

Even though Ashley is said to want £300m for Newcastle, analysts believe an offer of between £250m and £275m would be enough.

Where that would leave Keegan’s future is open to doubt.

Neither of the prospective buyers want to alienate the fans by dumping Keegan immediately, but there is a feeling in both camps that a high-profile and experienced foreign manager is the key to progress. What is certain is that RCom are intent on bringing the very best to St James’ Park.

Like Abramovich at Chelsea, the financial muscle of the Indians is astonishing with a money-no-object attitude they bring to all their businesses.

There is still some way to go before any deal is struck but even the ultra-conservative RCom delegation are said to be hugely excited by the prospect of taking control.

Ashley has done his best on Tyneside by attempting to bring a sense of financial realism to a club that, according to former chairman Chris Mort, was close to folding like a house of cards.

But Newcastle fans don’t want realism, they thrive on fantasy — and the kind of fantasy Asia, not a sportswear billionaire, can bring.