If the burly Newcastle owner ever sits next you to at a game, here’s what to talk about.

The lager-swigging man o’ the people who has just brought the Geordie messiah back to Newcastle isn’t your average club owner. He is an intensely private billionaire, who doesn’t play by the rules of club ownership or the city. Here are ten interesting facts about Mike Ashley, should you feel like showing off while drinking.

» He once bought his (now ex-)wife an Aston Martin DB4, and owned a 7-series BMW, but choose to drive around in an old Vauxhall Cavalier. He later traded it in for an F reg Ford Sierra.

» He divorced his Swedish wife Linda in 2003, and it cost him £50million. When they met, she was 22 and he was 24 and ‘he had nothing’. She now lives with Simon Brodin, who left Rachel Stevens to be with her.

» She kept their marital home, and he now lives alone in a Hertfordshire mansion, with a half-mile long driveway.

» The mansion cost £25million, and has an indoor and outdoor pool, a cinema and five garages.

» His wealth is estimated at £1.9billion, and he currently owns Sports Direct International, the Sports World retail empire, Lillywhites, outdoor specialist Blacks, Lonsdale, Dunlop, Kangol, Slazenger, Donnay and Karrimor.

» Sports Direct’s profits fell 35 per cent this year, which Ashley blames on the weather, England’s Euro qualifier defeat and tough Christmas trading. He claims they will bounce back from this ‘train wreck’ in the New Year.

» As a result of England’s lack of qualification, Ashley’s Sports Direct did not accept a delivery of 1.3m England shirts, wiping £15m from the sportswear company’s expected profits.

» Despite his riches, his parents still live in a bungalow in his hometown of Burnham, Bucks (note: not very near Newcastle).

» On holiday, Ashley tends to wear the same ‘scruffy’ pair of chinos, deck shoes and t-shirt every day.

» Ashley’s best friend is Paul Kemsley, the ex-Spurs vice-chairman and property entrepreneur who is often seen with Ashley larging it at the Fifty casino in Mayfair.