Toon boss Keegan set for showdown talks with Ashley after dig at Newcastle owner

Keegan called his press conference a day early after he was summoned to a meeting with Ashley and Dennis Wise, the club's executive director of football.

The trio are due to discuss Newcastle's summer spending plans but Ashley is also seeking an explanation from his manager following his extraordinary outburst on Sunday.

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Keegan said he could not see Newcastle breaking into the top four of the Barclays Premier League but it was his dig at Ashley which raised eyebrows in the St James's Park boardroom.

Before starting his press conference at lunchtime today, Keegan insisted he would not take any questions about the pending meeting with his owner.

Keegan said: "The reason we have press conference a day early is so I can go to London tomorrow to talk to Mike Ashley.

"That is a good thing and I will look forward to that and that is the only comment I will make.

"I will only talk about Everton from now on so any other questions are for another day and I will try and answer them as honestly as I can at that time."

Keegan was unable to resist explaining himself once more, though, as he insisted Newcastle can be the fifth biggest club in the country but did not have the financial clout of the top four.

He said: "I was giving an honest answer to a question about how we had fared against Chelsea. I said we were a million miles away.

"We are the fifth biggest team in the country and I need to make sure we achieve that. Sunday against Everton will be a big test for us to see if we can reach that point. I won't say 'we'll win the League' because I'd be carted off to the nuthouse if I said that.

"Only Man United have bigger crowds than us. But they have a bigger global appeal because they have a bigger profile than us.

Everton, as Newcastle had done before them, briefly broke the stranglehold the big four clubs have had on the corresponding league places in recent years, and Keegan points to their development since as an illustration of what he means.

He said: "David Moyes has done a fantastic job there - I think they are the only team that has broken into that top four, so the best person to ask if it can be done is David Moyes.

"I remember the year after that, they finished down at the bottom because the problem then is you have more games and you need a bigger squad.

"There are other problems that come with success, but they are nice problems."

Keegan was presented with a potential problem of a different kind when he learnt that striker Mark Viduka could be sidelined for up to six months.

The 32-year-old went for a planned injection to address his long-standing Achilles problem knowing he was likely to be out for three months as a result.

However, the injury proved to be worse than feared and he will discover over the next fortnight whether or not he needs a minor operation and the extended period of rehabilitation that will involve.

Keegan said: "He went to have this injection. He had the injection and the problem is slightly worse than was feared.

"He goes back in 10 days to two weeks having had the injection, and that may well solve the problem, as was originally thought.

"But there is a chance, the doctor informs me, that he might need something more than that."