Keegan to meet Ashley

Magpies boss set for London summit

Last updated: 8th May 2008

Newcastle Kevin Keegan

Keegan: Set for owner meeting

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Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan has confirmed he will be meeting club owner Mike Ashley on Friday.

Widespread reports on Thursday suggested Ashley had summoned Keegan down to London for showdown talks as he was angry with the Magpies chief for his outburst following the defeat to Chelsea.

In the aftermath of Monday's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea, Keegan claimed Newcastle could not challenge the top four and were 'a million miles away' from competing with the likes of Chelsea.

Keegan also revealed he did not know how much money he would be given to spend in the summer as rumours grow of unrest between Keegan and executive (football) director Dennis Wise.

The 57-year-old will now meet with Ashley to discuss his comments and try and clear the air.

"I am going to London tomorrow to talk with Mike Ashley. That's a good thing and I will look forward to that," Keegan said.

"That's the only comment that really I am going to make on anything to do with that today.

"Any other questions, they'll save for another day and I will try on that day, whenever it is, to answer them as honestly as I can."

Strengthen

On the issue of summer recruitments, despite not knowing how much funding he will receive, Keegan made it clear that he intends to strengthen in order to meet the demands of top flight football.

"You need to have a strong squad and you need to have a few replacements because injures do happen, suspensions do happen and players lose form," he said.

"That's why you need a bigger squad and you have to try and think, not what's going to go right, but what happens if something goes wrong.

"We're still looking and still trying to asses what we need and what's available out there, and sometimes in football a player becomes available that you never thought and there might be a rush to get him and hopefully we would be in that rush.

"We lost out on one player recently (Luca Modric to Tottenham), but that's not unusual, so we're in there pitching and if you're in there you might get them in."