The loan model at Newcastle United is severely broken: players are sent out not for their development, but so that they are out of sight and out of mind. Remie Streete has already admitted that he moved to Port Vale because Alan Pardew told him he would be no more than fourth or fifth choice at the club - a prediction that didn't seem to take into account any potential loss of form or injury to unlikely first choice pairing Mike Williamson and Fabricio Coloccini (but then that's Newcastle for you). And like Streete, Northern Irish midfielder Shane Ferguson - who has just played part in two victories for his country this week - is clearly unwanted by the club. Despite being sent out on a two year loan to Birmingham City, the writing was on the wall last year when Pardew said he wanted to hear more from his player under Lee Clark and implied that he wasn't doing enough. It was no surprise then to see Ferguson again linked with a loan move this summer, as Pardew looks to brush the youth players his coaches have failed to develop under the carpet. The reason it is pretty much nailed on that Ferguson is on his way out before the November loan deadline is the fact that he wasn't included in Alan Pardew's 25 man first team squad, even though Jonas Gutierrez was (perhaps a PR move), and thus has no way back into the first team picture until it can be updated in January. He has been written off for this season without even so much as a sniff of first-team action in pre-season. If that's not indication that he has no future at Newcastle and no chance of changing his resolute manager's mind, then I don't know what is. So no matter how much Peter Lovenkrands thinks Ferguson should get a chance, he simply will not, and it would not be surprising if a loan this season turned into a permanent move away in the summer. For his sake, let's hope that happens. Gael Bigirimana, Haris Vuckic and Mehdi Abeid will no doubt join the midfielder - and Adams Campbell and Armstrong - out in pastures new wondering whether they will ever actually make it into the first team at Newcastle. Unfortunately for both, because the coaching set up at Newcastle is so poorly modelled for youth development (the last youth manager punched Streete allegedly), the answer will be no.
