WHILE the St James’ Park faithful rail against owner Mike Ashley, the players have now protested in their own way.

The first-team squad have withdrawn their cooperation with the media, meaning they will refuse to conduct interviews while they are in dispute with Ashley and the club’s hierarchy over bonus payments for the forthcoming season.

Players were yesterday due to conduct their walk-up shots to be used as part of the Sky Sports game presentation, but refused.

Manager Rafa Benitez was there for his.

No interviews with players were conducted with any media outlet – including the club’s own website and own TV station - after the weekend’s defeat to Ausburg.

A refusal by the players to carry out interviews with Premier League broadcast holders and fulfil certain media obligations would bring the club into disrepute with Premier League officials and lead to possible fines.

TV journalists and camera crews were at the club’s training base yesterday, but left without the video shots needed for the weekend’s opening game against Tottenham Hotspur which is being broadcast live by Sky Sports.

Twelve months ago, the squad was in a similar dispute with the club until Ashley personally intervened to resolve the issue.

Jamaal Lascelles, the club captain, negotiated for the squad to share £4million if top-flight survival was achieved, as well as an additional £1m for every position they finished above 17th.

A tenth place finish meant they shared around £11m between them.

Ashley reportedly also agreed to pay his first-team squad an additional £20m bonus if they won the FA Cup. Instead they were dumped out in round four, losing 3-0 at Chelsea.

Manager Benitez has endured yet another frustrating summer, with little movement on the transfer market ahead of Thursday’s 5pm deadline.

And a lack of quality additions have also frustrated the current squad.

Asked if his worries were extended to the squad, the Spaniard said: “One hundred per cent. The players know. They want to have better players around because they have more possibilities to win.'’

Benitez still wants four more signings this week. Dwight Gayle has today completed a loan move to West Brom, in exchange for Salomon Rondon.

He said: "I am delighted to sign Salomón. When we were looking for options up front, we knew how important experience would be. Salomón has been in the Premier League for a while and he knows how demanding it is.

"He, together with Yoshinori Mutō, will give us different options and will improve the competition between the strikers, which is always positive for the team."

Of his transfer woes, he added: “My idea was that at this stage of pre-season everything would be completed and we would be ready and working with my players for one month - it's not the case.

“If they trust us, give us the tools, we will deliver. We have done it everywhere and won trophies. In this case, I was expecting we could deliver something.’’

Striker Adam Armstrong has left St James on a permanent basis, after a successful loan spell last season.

The 21-year-old has agreed a four-year deal at Ewood Park. He scored nine times for the club in nine games between February 10 and April 2.