A South African consortium are growing increasingly confident they will take control of Mike Ashley's Newcastle United.

The Daily Mail says the group are headed by Jonathan Cleland - a South African-raised Scot whose career has been based around developing major brands - with the backing of billionaires Johan Rupert, Brian Gilbertson, Vivian Imerman and Brian Joffe.

Cleland said: "Now is the time to reveal who we are out of respect for the supporters. The people of Newcastle deserve better. We are not in any way criticising Mike Ashley's running of Newcastle United.

"However, quite simply we have in our consortium the world class skills and talents to achieve the footballing and commercial success required and deserved."

Any bid for control is not expected to reach its conclusion until the end of the month.