Ashley has announced he is ready to sell the club, should the right offer arrive.
Kinnear said: “I know for a fact Mike is talking to eight consortiums.
“I don’t know the outcome of those. I haven’t got a time-scale on it, so I don’t really know what the outcome is.
“But I know he is in talks with at least eight consortiums because he has told me that himself.
“Who they are, what they are, when it will happen, there is no time-scale on it.
“I am contracted for eight games, but I assume that should due diligence and the deals go on a little bit longer, it may run into 10 or 12 games.”