Alan Pardew feels Newcastle United fans are warming to controversial owner Mike Ashley.

And he believes Ashley can further strengthen the relationship by hanging onto Demba Ba.

Pardew explained: "I want Demba to stay. He's a Newcastle player and all I'm focusing on is that he's a ­Newcastle player next season. Mike Ashley tells me he's a difficult seller of players - and his record ­suggests that.

"I sense there's a bit of warming to Mike in terms of what he's put in place here. The ­stadium renaming, we're never going to get round that, it's ­uncomfortable for ­everybody - even for Mike probably. But we're trying to do it to get more money.''