• Owner says he has no plans to sell club if they drop into Championship • ‘They have got me and I have got them, that’s just the way it is’

Mike Ashley has admitted he “regrets” buying Newcastle United but says he and the club are “wedded” to each other.

In a rare public interview – his second in 10 months – the sportswear magnate, who has owned Newcastle since 2007, also maintained he remains confident Rafael Benítez can keep the team out of the Championship.

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Ashley said: “Do I regret getting into football? The answer is yes. I have had tonnes of fun in it but I haven’t been able to make the difference I wanted to like I have at Sports Direct. I wanted to help Newcastle, I wanted to make it better. I do not seem to have had that effect.”

Asked if he would still be committed to the club if they were relegated, Ashley’s reply to Sky was unequivocal. “I’ve got no choice,” he said. “I am wedded to Newcastle like Sports Direct. They’ve got me and I’ve got them. That’s just the way it is.”

The Sports Direct owner’s desire not to miss out on at least £100m provided by next season’s Premier League broadcast deal was behind his decision to instruct Lee Charnley, the managing director, to replace Steve McClaren with Benítez.

Although the team have shown small signs of improvement, the former Liverpool, Chelsea, Napoli and Real Madrid manager has experienced a quiet start on Tyneside, losing his first game 1-0 at Leicester last Monday and then drawing Sunday’s north-east derby at home to Sunderland 1-1.

Asked if Newcastle would remain in the top tier next season, Ashley said: “Oh, you are really asking me some questions now. How confident? I am going to say we have the right man in the job. If there’s any chance of us staying up, let’s hope Rafa can do the business and keep us up there.”

He acknowledged he was a little crestfallen that the division’s second bottom side – Newcastle are three points adrift of 17th-placed Norwich City and visit Carrow Road immediately after the international break – did not beat Sunderland but believes all is far from lost. “It’s disappointing because I personally want to win every game for Newcastle United,” said Ashley, who has spent more than £82m on players this season. “It doesn’t matter who they are playing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a friendly but yesterday I wanted us to win, so I am a little disappointed. But it’s not a disaster.”

Newcastle’s owner was not asked about his comments to Sky last May when he promised the club would not repeat last season’s relegation skirmish, when John Carver’s then side secured safety courtesy of victory at home to West Ham United on the season’s final day. However, those who had interpreted an earlier Ashley comment stating he would not contemplate selling Newcastle until at least this summer as a sign there could be a change of ownership this year seem destined for disappointment.

A Newcastle fan who ran on to the St James’ Park pitch to celebrate with Aleksandar Mitrovic during Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby has been given an interim football banning order. John West, 35, of Bradford Crescent, Gilesgate, has been charged with going into the playing area of a designated football match during the 1-1 draw with Sunderland, Northumbria Police said.

A spokesman for the force added: “Mr West was handed an interim football banning order until his first appearance at Newcastle magistrates’ court on 6 April.”