Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has postponed his planned crunch meeting with manager Joe Kinnear.

Kinnear has maintained that the billionaire owner would hold talks over his future after tomorrow's clash at Chelsea, but the meeting has now been put on hold.

Kinnear wants the St James' Park job permanently so he can sort the futures of Michael Owen and Nicky Butt and add to the squad.

He said: "I always said it would be after the Chelsea game, but the goalposts have moved since then. Every time the club get nearer to being sold a problem pops up.

"It's frustrating but it's the same line, 'We've got people buying it but we haven't seen the cash'."