Former Socceroo Zane returned from Europe to move back to Newcastle in 2010.

He joined the Jets as W-League coach in 2011, before taking over the youth team and becoming a first-team assistant coach.

The 40-year-old also had a 12-game spell as caretaker coach in 2014 after the sacking of Gary van Egmond.

The Jets have amazingly gone from claiming the wooden spoon last season to finishing second and securing a place in the Grand Final this weekend against Melbourne Victory.

The club had not reached the finals since 2010 and have gone through eight different head coaches in that time. It was arguably the basket case of the A-League when Tinkler lost the license in 2015.

"The turnaround's been massive," Zane admitted to FourFourTwo.

"I’m not going to downplay how great a season we’ve had in comparison to the previous two seasons or three seasons. But the margins are so tight in the A-League. You know the big clubs are always going to spend a bit more money than you so automatically that makes it difficult.

"The budget does reflect quite often the position of teams. The public’s waited so long, if you looked at the team we had last season compared to this year you know the team this year is going to do a lot better.

"The recruitment was very good, in regards to staff and to players. If you looked back 12 months ago and asked if we were going to make the six, well I think most would have hoped to make the six.

"The year that Gary left it came down to the last day of the season. Sydney FC won their match against Perth and that knocked us out of the finals. We haven’t been too far off, but the big thing that has changed for me has been the recruitment of Ernie and we’ve brought in some key players with experience.

"We definitely haven’t had those players in the last three or four seasons. So that’s a pat on the back to the people at the club that have made that happen."

A Newcastle local who cut his teeth as a junior with Cessnock City Hornets and Adamstown Rosebud, Zane played in the NSL with the Newcastle Breakers in the 1990s before heading to Northern Spirit and then overseas.

He knows full well the on-field and off-field troubles Newcaslte clubs have had in national competitions over the years.

"People have recognized as soon as we’ve fallen out of the league that this just can’t happen," he said.

"We’ve also been recognized as being a great breeding ground for football and as having passionate fans up here.

"We’ve had different management and administration all through those eras, but one that thing that’s always happened that whenever we’ve fallen out of the league somebody’s always recognized that we needed to be in it, and the fans have always voted with their feet and turned up to games."