WITH current Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd considering his St James' Park future, Mike Ashley is ploughing ahead with plans to turn Newcastle United into the "biggest and best" club in the land.

And while the pair's recently-launched takeover battle could become a protracted affair if Shepherd cannot be persuaded to relinquish his position quickly, the billionaire businessman is confident that the current power struggle will not impinge upon Sam Allardyce's attempts to rebuild the Newcastle squad this summer.

Having purchased a 41.6 per cent stake in the Magpies on Wednesday, Ashley is preparing to launch a formal offer for the remainder of the club's stock.

Shepherd, who is currently in Newcastle's Freeman Hospital being treated for suspected pneumonia, has insisted that he will not be pressurised into selling his shareholding to the sportswear magnate, and has suggested that he will resist the 42-year-old's attempts to seize complete control.

Should Shepherd refuse to relinquish his 29.8 per cent stake, Ashley will be forced into a courtship of the club's small investors that could take the best part of two months.

That would seriously handicap Allardyce's ability to restructure both his backroom set-up and his playing squad ahead of the opening game of the Premiership season on August 11 but, after committing £55m to buy out the Hall family on Wednesday, Ashley is understandably keen to avoid such a disadvantageous situation.

The Hertfordshire-based businessman has failed to add to the brief public statement that accompanied his arrival onto the Premiership scene but, privately, he has sought to assure anxious Newcastle supporters of the extent of his intention for their football club.

A source close to Ashley last night revealed: "The guy is someone who wants to build the biggest and best and be successful.

"He has done that with the businesses he has built and he wants to do that with Newcastle United.

"He is someone putting a huge amount of money into the club and he does not want this season, a big opportunity and an important season, to be hampered in any way. He is not going to get in the way of transfers and such like, far from it."

Nevertheless, Ashley's hands are effectively tied until he increases his current stake in Newcastle above the 50 per cent ownership level that will effectively give him de facto control of the club's day-to-day affairs.

No further developments are expected this week, but St James' Holdings Ltd, Ashley's financial vehicle for his takeover attempt, will write to each and every one of the club's shareholders late next week, or at the start of the following week, to offer £1 a share for their respective stakes.

Ashley, who describes himself as a "sports fan" without a prior allegiance to a specific team, expects to garner enough support to pass the 50 per cent threshold within days of making his offer, but breaking the 75 per cent barrier - the point at which he will be able to assume complete control and alter the club's constitution - hinges entirely on buying out Shepherd.

The current Magpies chairman has previously claimed that he is willing to stand aside for a 'Geordie Abramovich', but his initial reaction to Ashley's emergence suggests he is far more reluctant to cede control to a southern-based businessman.

"There is nothing Mike Ashley can do with this club unless he gets 75 per cent of the stake," said a bullish Shepherd, whose immediate support would enable Ashley to complete the takeover process within a matter of days.

"He can't take full control, he can't change resolutions or the club's articles of association. He has spent more than 50m, but he will have to spend a whole lot more as he must now make an offer not just for my shares, but also the shares held by all the other shareholders."

While Shepherd's intransigence is unlikely to scupper Ashley's ambitions in the long term, it could have serious short-term repercussions in terms of Newcastle's ability to compete in the upper echelons of the Premiership next season. As the club's biggest shareholder, there is nothing to prevent Ashley pumping a significant stream of new investment into Allardyce's transfer kitty whenever he wishes to do so. However, such decisiveness is unlikely while the club's long-term future continues to be clouded in uncertainty, and Allardyce is likely to seek urgent talks with both Shepherd and Ashley to discuss his future plans.

The former Bolton manager spent most of last week targeting potential new recruits, but he admits that this week's events have thrown his summer spending plans into confusion.

"I'm as shocked about this as chairman Freddy Shepherd," said Allardyce, who was on holiday in France when he learned of Ashley's challenge to Shepherd's chairmanship. "I didn't know this was going to happen.

"I will be talking to the chairman to see what it all means and we will go from there. I don't know anything about the person hoping to take over, but he must want good things for Newcastle if he's spending such an amount on the club." Despite the takeover moves, Newcastle United's share price was up just one pence yesterday. After opening the day at 96 pence, it ended on 97.