Ameobi heads up the club’s loan department alongside former Newcastle team-mate Peter Ramage
Newcastle United’s head of player loans Shola Ameobi(Image: 2025 Newcastle United)
Newcastle United’s assistant player loans manager Peter Ramage has delivered an insight into how the department, which is led by Shola Ameobi works.
The former Newcastle players have been placed in charge of the development of the players who have left the club on a loan move, trying to aid their transition from under-21s football to the senior game.
The hope for Newcastle, like in the case of Elliot Anderson, is that they return to become a part of the senior squad, or, in the case of Yankuba Minteh, they develop into a player the club can sell on for a healthy transfer profit.
Not all loans work out, of course, with Garang Kuol being a high profile example of a highly talented player who didn’t make the development many expected on his various loan moves away from the club.
Summer signing Antonio Cordero barely played at Belgian club Westerlo before moving on loan to Spanish side Cadiz.
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Those moves have seen scrutiny fall the way of Ameobi and with a role that is still in its early stages, there are a lot of unknowns into how the department actually works.
And Ramage has delivered that as he has gone into detail into the mechanics of the role and how a loan transfer actually comes about.
“I often believe it is the players who source the loans, because they perform,” Ramage told the Athletic’s Anatomy of a Transfer podcast.
“If they are not performing then nobody is going to pick the phone up for them. That then potentially leads to phone calls to, not just myself and Shola Ameobi, who leads the department, but all football people within the club.
“The manager might get a call asking about a player, the assistant managers, the coaches in the academy, the academy director, everybody that has been involved in football, we get a phone call from somebody.
“It will come to us, we will try and navigate through all the pleasantries of it and see if it is the right fit for the player and for the club.”
Newcastle United assistant player loans manager Peter Ramage
And when the player has left Newcastle, Ramage insists the work they do is ‘extensive’ to ensure the player is adapting to their new environment and that the move is benefitting the player, Newcastle and their loan side.
“It is extensive,” Ramage replied when asked about the work they do with players who make a loan move away from the club.
“We have a team now in the loans department consisting of six. There is myself and Shola from the football side of things. We have an analyst from the data side of things, we have a loans psychologist, a loans physio, and a loans sports scientist who will support the player and also support the club.
“We try and have at least one checkpoint a week with the player via a WhatsApp message, zoom call, phone call or even a visit as well. Obviously, we go out and watch their games, make sure we are checking in with them and make sure they are adapting in a senior environment.
“But also part of the plan will be just to leave the player alone. Sometimes we let them know that, sometimes we won’t and it will be subconscious that we just withdraw our support for them to learn and understand what it takes to be a professional footballer.”
As a player, Ramage came through Newcastle’s academy to make 69 appearances for the club before leaving in the summer of 2008 to join QPR on a free transfer.
He enjoyed a loan spell at Birmingham during his time at Loftus Road and after later joining Crystal Palace on a permanent transfer, he enjoyed a further loan spell at Barnsley.
And he feels those experiences help him in his current role with the Magpies.
“Being an ex-professional footballer in this role I think is key,” Ramage continued.
“I faced this when I left Newcastle when I was 24. I went down to London to sign for QPR and I was up and down the road every other week.
“My mum and dad actually banned me from coming back up. I had to learn to live on my own two feet down in the big smoke which was really hard and quite daunting.
“But I think that helped me. It was probably painful for my mum and dad to see their boy being down in London but this is where I can draw on my experience to try and help the players.”
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