Allardyce says he tried to sign England defender Phil Jaglielka, Real Madrid star Luka Modric and Chelsea ace Branislav Ivanovic but Ashley knocked back all three.
Phil Jaglielka could have been a Geordie hero!
Big Sam lasted just 24 matches before Ashley sacked him in 2008.
Freddy Shepherd appointed the ex-Bolton Wanderers chief just weeks before Ashley took over the club.
Sam Allardyce: “It was the spending the power of Newcastle that attracted me.
“I’d had limited funds at Bolton and it was the opportunity for the bigger pot - and Freddy wanted to emulate the success they had in the Kevin Keegan era.
“With Mike taking over those funds never materialised. I had lined up moves for Phil Jaglielka, Luka Modric and Branislav Ivanovic - people on my Bolton recruitment database.
“Not big stars but quality players and with the finances I was being promised at Newcastle, we could have done something.
“It ended up where I couldn’t get that bigger or better club, so I think there must have been something in my career that stopped me.
“I think it was Newcastle. Had that been successful with Freddy Shepherd, the man who appointed me, staying on, I might have got an even bigger club than Newcastle.
“I don’t blame Mike Ashley, because when you pay that amount for a football club and you know what you want to do with it, sometimes you like to get rid of the furniture you have inherited.”