London  - Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley confirmed on Sunday that he is no longer seeking to sell the club.

Ashley bought the club in May 2007, but decided to offload it in September after the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan prompted fan protests against him.

He called in the investment bank Seymour Pierce to seek a buyer, but despite reported interest from the Middle East and Nigeria, none emerged.

"When I took the decision to put the club up for sale in September I made a point of saying two things were very important," Ashley was quoted as saying on the club website.

London  - Mike Ashley insisted on Sunday that he has no regrets about buying Newcastle United, despite having put the club up for sale.

The British sports goods entrepreneur Ashley bought the club for 134 million pounds (200 million dollars) in May 2007, and immediately cleared debts believed to total around 100 million pounds.

"I've made mistakes, sure," Ashley told the News of the World paper.

"But do I regret buying Newcastle? Absolutely not.

I had a fantastic year owning a fantastic club. It really was like someone fulfilling their boyhood dream. Up to a point, I enjoyed every minute of it."

London, Sept. 29 : Beleaguered Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has an unlikely supporter . . . Adolf Hitler.

But hang on, the praise is merely an Internet spoof carried out by YouTube pranksters.

The subtitled Oscar-nominated film won plaudits for portraying the final days in Hitler’s Berlin bunker as the Allies close in.

But millions of net users have been left laughing at Hitler’s expense by the pranksters craze for putting fake subtitles littered with swear words on the film.

Instead of angrily addressing his generals about the dire situation in Berlin, one version has him bursting with rage about Toon fans hounding boss Ashley out of Newcastle United.