I was dismayed today when reading that the Jets players have not been paid.
The story around the unpaid wages is of course wider than the Jets management, involving the stadium and the Newcastle Knights NRL team as well. But it is a concern that Con has left the club in a position where it is unable to make payments for player salaries. Surely, even without knowing the outcome of the dispute with the Knights and the state government owned stadium, it would have been clear that a contingency plan for cash flow would have been thought through. Wouldn't it? Or is the issue broader and I am not in the know?
From what has been reported at this stage, it seems that the club have a short-term situation where they were expecting certain incomes and didn't receive them, or they were expecting resolution of issues around the stadium and that didn't occur.
Statements that the club is about to go bust (in other locations) are just scurrilous beat-ups to get headlines. Con, despite his sometimes dubious financial incidents, and dust-ups with loyal fans, does appear to have a genuine love for football, unlike other wealthy A-League franchise owners (cough cough GCU cough) and will not let the Jets go down the gurgler. Ever. He's already sunk millions of dollars into the Jets and is reportedly losing $2-3 million a year. That's a lotta love.
But you have to wonder about their management and what business plan they have for the future. Is Con simply prepared to lose money every year? There are a lot of initiatives that could bring revenue to club, not least of which is improved engagement with the Newcastle public. Newcastle is a small city and because of that, tends to be very supportive of its local sporting heroes. A major shirt sponsor would also help and you have to wonder why that hasn't come yet.
In other news, the Jets did a calendar photo-shoot during the week off (oh no wait that was just imaginary), lost back-up keeper Paul Henderson to the Mariners and are training furiously to prepare for one of the form teams of the moment, Brisbane Roar. That in itself is worth analysis on its own. A home game, and a dire need for some points, against arguably the tightest looking team in the comp. I'll write a preview of that one later this week.
