Ashley chose to wait until the summer to name his new head coach but who is in the running?
Toon managing director Lee Charnley chose to appoint current encumbent John Carver as interim head coach after admitting the club’s month long search for a new man proved fruitless.
It was revealed that United had 80 applicants for the role, but Charnley claimed they were unable to lure their top choices, which were said to include Remy Garde, Derby’s Steve McClaren and Ajax’s Frank de Boer as well as Rafael Benitez at Napoli.
Since then, the Toon’s top targets have began to either rule themselves out of the running, in the case of Ajax manager De Boer, or left some to question whether they would be wanted by the Toon after poor runs of form, like Derby manager McClaren.
Bookmakers across the UK still have McClaren as the favourite to take over the role at the end of the season, and the fact his Derby side have fallen on hard times in the race to the Premier League could benefit Newcastle.
If Derby are promoted then The Wally With The Brolly stays at Pride Park; but if the fail ... he could accept Ashley's offer.
But if he fails (and that is looking most likely) who wants a manager who has failed in two consecutive years to get his club promoted ... despite allegedly having the best players in that league.
What is the price of failure? A job at Newcastle?
Elsewhere, De Boer has claimed he is happy at Ajax and looking forward to the future.
He was recently quoted as saying: ‘I want to concentrate on Ajax and later we will see. I am very happy here as I have a contract until 2017. We have a team with a lot of talent, next year they will have more experience. I will only leave for an interesting team.’
Champions League winner and former Liverpool and Chelsea boss Benitez has also been heavily linked with the Toon after sources close to the Napoli boss have said he wants to return to the UK.
Unfortunately for the Magpies, it’s more likely he will end up at Manchester City after their Eurpoean exit and Napoli themselves in still considering offering the Spaniard a new deal.
It’s looking increasingly likely Carver, despite taking the club backwards since his appointment, could be Ashley's choice.
He is a YES man, he knows how Ashley works, and he would be happy to toe the line to stay in the job.
Sadly ... we can see through it ... but there is bugger all we can do to stop it.