Tinkler's Hunter Sports Group today stunned the FFA by announcing they were intending to hand back their licence for the Jets in an escalation of their row over their $5 million "acquisition fee" to the FFA when they took over the Jets.

Tinkler has since found out other owners were charged only a fraction of that when they took control of their clubs.

Today HSG announced they were giving up on the A-League.

But Buckley insists they are legally bound to run the club until June 2020, and said he and FFA chairman Frank Lowy had been trying to meet Tinkler to resolve the issues.

"A club cannot hand back a licence," said Buckley today. "The HSG has a legally binding contract to June 2022 to field a team in the A-League.

"Individuals who take on a licence, who sign contracts, who sign players, who make a commitment to fans, who make a commitment to football communities in their regions, have an absolute obligation to fulfil those obligations and commitments.

"Let me make something quite clear - we have met with HSG. We have had countless meetings with Troy Palmer to attempt to resolve these issues.

"In fact as recently as a few weeks ago we had a meeting scheduled which was subsequently cancelled by HSG and Troy Palmer.

"The constant assertion by HSG that we were not willing to meet is just nonsense."

Buckley also defended the business model behind A-League clubs.

"I don't accept private ownership doesn't work," he said. "We have wonderful owners out there who are committed, passionate and who the right thing by the game.

"Yes, we have some issues around financial performance at some of the clubs.

"Those have been addressed recently with the clubs, as recently as two weeks ago we agreed to form a committee that will have real teeth about the future decision-making of the league."

HSG also said they had spent $12 million in the 18 months since they took over the Jets from previous owner Con Constantine.

But Buckley insisted that was their choice to spend so much, with only one other club spending more than the Jets.

"Their expenditure is their decision," he said. "They choose to expend more than most other clubs, probably more than all but one club to run their club.

"I think they have done some very very good things in engaging with the community and building a membership model, but clearly their operating expenses are vastly bigger than most of the other clubs.

"That is something they have chosen to do and chosen to do willingly."

He was confident Tinkler's announcement would not spell the end for the Jets.

"I would hope that it doesn't come to that," he said. "When the announcement was made that HSG was going to take on the licence, they made a lot of noise about commitment to football and building football in the community of Newcastle.

"I would say to the HSG they need to review that commitment, they need to honour their obligations and they need to make sure the people of Newcastle are not let down.

"There are a lot of players, coaches and administrators whose future professional careers are at risk."

He added: "You can't just walk away from contracts. You can't just hand back licences. You have to do the right thing by fans who have supported the team.

"They do not have a right to hand it back. We expect them to fully commit and fully honour that contract."

But he admitted Tinkler's announcement caught the FFA by surprise as they prepared for tonight's glittering A-League Awards ceremony in Sydney, and just days after they announced a new West Sydney club will be joining the competition next season.

"We're very surprised and very disappointed by the action taken by HSG," said Buckley. "We were only informed of it this morning 15 minutes before the press anouncement.

"We are very disappointed for all the fans that came out and supported the Jets this year.

"It will be a disappointing discussion topic for this evening but having said that we had a wonderful season."