The latest public relations genius developed by the public relations firm of Charnley, Ashley, and Carr™ is a good one. It's not really a new move in and of itself, but the extent to which it has been pushed through the use of Preferred Media Partners (and the throttling thereof following the erroneous reports in the Mirror that Newcastle had completed the signing of Charlie Austin some 3 weeks ago) is reaching dizzying new heights. In a time of year where solid information is hard to come by, the club's heel-digging refusal to provide ANYTHING to ANYONE is frustrating at best.
We know that the club needs to reinforce the playing squad. We know where the glaring holes are (at least those of us who have been paying attention for the last 5 years or so). Other than that, we are left shuffling in a pitch black furniture showroom hoping not to stub our toes. It has been suggested that player movement will start following the installation of Steve McClaren's backroom staff, but we can't even get solid information on progress on that front either. The squad will report back in two days for preseason training and so far as we know, we have only one coach who isn't completely confirmed yet (although Ian Cathro is the one who has been reported by the BBC which makes it as credible as anything out there).
This all brings us to the "big story of the day" which revolves around a Newcastle player who may or may not – according to the information available to us – have a contract with the club. Sammy Ameobi, who is out of contract tomorrow, is being connected with a loan move to Cardiff City. Suggestions are that he will sign his contract prior to a year-long loan to the Championship club, but well... that's Charnley, Ashley, and Carr™'s information AND NO ONE ELSE'S. Get off of my lawn, etc. etc. For his part, Ameobi has spent time on loan in the Championship before having a moderately successful spell at Middlesborough two years ago during which he did this against Cardiff (Sammy's bit starts at about :06):
Ultimatley, we are left to infer the details of this story. Cardiff could very well wait two days and take their chances with Sammy as a free agent. They have not done this and the reports of a loan offer fully suggest that Sammy will or has signed his new deal, but it's probably none of our business.