KEVIN Keegan has been summoned for showdown talks with furious Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.

Keegan's post-match comments after Monday's defeat to Chelsea – in which he claimed he was in the dark over summer spending and hinted at a strained relationship with the club's hierarchy – are understood to have angered Ashley.

And the Magpies manager has brought his pre-match Everton Press conference forward to today so he can travel to London to meet the billionaire tomorrow.

Also attending the meeting will be executive director Dennis Wise and vice-president Tony Jimenez, whose growing influence within the club has also been a source of friction.

Keegan's explosive revelations had put the ball firmly in Ashley's court ahead of the close season, when Keegan hoped he would oversee substantial investment in four or five players.

What he did not expect was for chairman Chris Mort to agree with his gloomy assessment, having agreed to return to the club in the belief that Ashley and Mort would back him to the hilt.

It does not appear that Ashley is willing to bend to Keegan's demands, and the hope is common ground can be found between the two.

Ashley, for his part, is determined that Keegan remains, but on his terms.

However, Keegan firmly retains the backing of the club's fans, underlined by the ovation he received when he joined his players on the pitch at St James's Park to applaud the crowd after the Chelsea game, and that remains his trump card in his battle of wills with Ashley.

But the fans will not be with him in London when Keegan meets Ashley, Wise and Jimenez.

And Keegan – just a few months into his second tenure – could be ready to walk away from the unfinished business he came back to take care of in January amid extraordinary scenes if he does not get the answers he wants.

Keegan's absence from training yesterday had sparked a city-wide rumour that he had quit.

However, this was explained by the fact he had been sent home from United's Benton training HQ early on Sunday with an ear infection, something he was still struggling with this week.

Keegan has walked away from the club before, famously leaving not long after returning as manager in 1992 when promised funds from then owner Sir John Hall did not materialise.

He claimed the job was different to the one advertised in the brochure, and got his way.

Keegan has now called his new owner's bluff, and he may find hard-headed Ashley – who bought the club for £134m last summer and cleared another £100m worth of debts – an altogether different proposition.

Ashley's popularity among fans on Tyneside has soared amid expectations he would back Keegan with hard cash.

But he feels he cannot match the financial backing of some of the Premier League's other billionaire owners, and that is where Wise and Jimenez come in.

They have been charged with sourcing cheaper players, and the pair have been closely looking at the South American and African markets.

Keegan, quite understandably, wants the finished article, or as close to it as possible, as he wants to see tangible progress over the three years of his Newcastle contract.

He also wants new deals for the likes of Michael Owen, Steven Taylor and Steve Harper, who all go into the summer with just one year left on their contracts.

Ashley, meanwhile, is keen to slash the wage bill – which is claiming a worrying proportion of the club's turnover – and the lack of progress on those contractual issues is another source of frustration for Keegan.