It appears that Kevin Keegan is in a spot of bother with his boss and has been called to London (why London for God’s sake- that’s nearly three hundred miles away!) for ‘discussions’ with Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner. This has all come to light because Keegan dared to proclaim publicly that the Newcastle were “a million miles” away from closing the gap on the Big Four (Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool).

King Kev may have compounded matters though when he jovially declared that he had a fantastic working relationship with Ashley because he “never speaks” to him. Oops, not the way to go Kevin, and he has now been asked for clarification over his comments which followed on from last Monday afternoons 2-0 defeat to Chelsea.

Apparently it wasn’t only Ashley who was incensed by Keegan’s comments, especially the part about the club’s prospects in the future – or should we say, lack of them? The team’s players were not overly impressed by the apparent slur on their abilities either, according to some reports.

Nevertheless, once the ear bashing is out of the way, this meeting will give King Kev the ideal opportunity to find out what kind of money he will be given to try and strengthen his squad this summer. He had revealed earlier in the week that he was totally unaware as to what kind of transfer budget he could expect but he may have his work cut out for him if some of his players act on their anger over his rather colourful comments! With Keegan a bit worried over his apparent lack of input in to the clubs future plans, this meeting will offer him the chance to add his own input, which probably means in King Kev language that he will be making a few demands! With Mike Ashley and recently appointed executive director Dennis Wise both now based in the capital permanently, Keegan has become a rather forlorn figure at St James’ Park, and probably the fact that this meeting is taking place in London is in itself rather revealing.

While there is no suggestion that King Kev is in for the chop, given his unpredictable nature, his future at Newcastle must be in some kind of doubt. The meeting could have the effect of smoothing things over; but it’s equally likely that the upshot could be an explosive rift- much to the chagrin of Newcastle’s somewhat disgruntled and long suffering supporters!

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