Shola Ameobi was drafted in as the appointment for the newly created role of loan arranger at Newcastle, in a bid to get the best temporary deals for our youngsters.
Well after his first few months in the post, I think it is safe to say, it is not working, as most of the deals put in place have been similarly disastrous to those last year.
We wrote a couple of weeks ago about Ameobi being the wrong man for the job, and last weekend has reinforced that belief, and probably made it more blatantly obvious than it was before.
The Chronicle reported only Freddie Woodman at Swansea and Liam Gibson at Grimsby started for their respective sides last weekend.
Which means seven of the nine players currently on loan did not start for their sides.
In fact, Rolando Aarons, who made the decision to drop down to League One in a bid to just play football, has only managed one minute for Wycombe.
He should be well above that level of football, and just why he is not getting game time is mystifying.
But, of course, it is Ameobi’s job to ensure that these deals are the right ones for the players, and that has simply not been the case.
The cynical fans will say he only got the job due to his public utterances, backing Mike Ashley, on a number of occasions, and the result is proof that ‘jobs for the boys’ is not the right approach.
But it is players’ futures that are being affected in most cases.
There are also more established names playing away from the club currently, but even they are struggling.
We mentioned Aarons, but Achraf Lazaar too, did not even get in the squad for lower league Italian side Cosenza, and Jacob Murphy is struggling at Sheffield Wednesday.
The buck stops with Ameobi
So the finger must be pointed at Ameobi. He has not lived up to the job’s billing.
The long-term worry is that players will leave St James’ Park, either because they have lost trust in the club to find them a good move, or because they are released, even though they have not had a chance top prove themselves.
Newcastle should have brought someone into the role who has much more experience at doing a similar job, even if they brought Ameobi in as an assistant, so he could learn the ropes.
It has not worked out, and a more professional job should be expected from a Premier League club like Newcastle.
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