Newcastle Jets

Newcastle Jets – Quick Stats

Most Appearances: Matt Thompson (121)
Top Goal Scorer: Joel Griffiths (28)
A-League Championships: 1 (2007-2008)
Best Regular Season Finish: 2nd (2007-2008)
Best AFC Champions League Result: Round of 16 (2009)

About the Newcastle Jets A-League Football Club

Formerly known as Newcastle United in the now defunct National Soccer League, the club changed its name to Newcastle Jets in 2004, after being granted a licence to compete in the first A-League season for 2005-2006. United had been established in 2000 by local multi-millionaire Con Constantine, shortly after the demise of the Newcastle Breakers. An increase in crowd numbers from the Breakers’ poor average attendances over United’s four-year NSL stint, combined with Newcastle’s rich football history, convinced Football Federation Australia that the Hunter region deserved representation in the new, streamlined eight-team competition.

Ahead of their debut A-League season, Constantine spent big money to attract the enigmatic Socceroo walkout and former Olyroo captain Ned Zelic back to Australia from a 12-year club career overseas. Zelic was appointed as captain and was joined by former NSL stars Nick Carle and Jade North as the club’s three major signings. Richard Money was named as head coach but was at the helm for just one season, as he opted to return to England in 2006 despite guiding the Jets to a fourth-place finish. Newcastle were knocked out by local rivals Central Coast Mariners in the two-leg minor semi final and Money was later replaced by former NSL championship winning coach Nick Theodorakopoulos prior to the 2006-2007 season.

The 34-year-old Zelic also decided to leave the club after year one, returning to Europe to play out his career. In an ironic twist, Zelic was replaced as the club’s marquee signing and captain by former national team skipper Paul Okon, who was rumoured to have been at the centre of a feud between Zelic and then Socceroos coach Frank Farina, prior to Zelic quitting the national side in 1999. Okon and his teammates endured a disastrous start to version two of the A-League, as the club had just three competition points and no wins to show from their opening seven matches.

An impatient Constantine took drastic action in an effort to save his side’s season, by immediately sacking Theodorakopoulos and promoting assistant coach Gary Van Egmond to the top job for the remainder of the 2006-2007 campaign. The decision proved to be a masterstroke as Van Egmond managed to lead the Jets into the finals with the help of Player of the Year Carle, who hit a purple-patch of form over the latter rounds of the competition. Newcastle were eventually knocked out by Adelaide United in the preliminary final, which denied them a spot in the grand final. However, the Jets would go on to make amends the following season when they were crowned A-League champions.

Despite their dream run under Van Egmond from the previous year, many had written Newcastle off as serious title defenders for 2007-2008 after Okon and Carle had departed the club. But Van Egmond’s guidance, the emergence of young guns Mark Bridge and Stuart Musalik and the recruitment of striker Joel Griffiths made for a successful recipe, which saw the Jets culminate their season with a 1-0 grand final win over the Mariners. However, Newcastle then lost a number of key players prior to commencing their title defence – most notably Bridge and Musalik – and missed the finals for the 2008-2009.

The club were then faced with more adversity when Van Egmond quit as coach just weeks out from the start of last season. He was replaced at short notice by Branko Culina and the Jets went on to sneak into the final playoff position, before being eliminated in week two of the finals by Wellington Phoenix. Recently Newcastle has undergone a change of ownership, following its much-publicised financial troubles. Mining magnate Nathan Tinkler has taken over as chairman from Constantine as the club looks to gradually build a solid future.

Current Key Players: Michael Bridges, Ljubo Milicevic, Labinot Haliti, Adam D’Apuzzo, Kasey Wehrman.