JETS coach Phil Stubbins is confident the turmoil surrounding his club will not prove a deterrent to signing players.After a disastrous season that has yielded one win from 16 games, Newcastle face the prospect of slipping to last on the A-League ladder if they are beaten by Western Sydney at Hunter Stadium on Saturday night.
Off the pitch, the club has been equally dysfunctional after the resignations of chairman Ray Baartz and chief executive Robbie Middleby, followed by the ruthless sacking of five players and three members of the coaching staff.
Four other players have requested and been granted releases, while Newcastle’s best young prospect, Andrew Hoole, rejected an offer to stay at the Jets and will join Sydney at the end of the season.
If there was a blueprint for how turn a football club into a circus, the Jets would appear to have nailed it,
yet Stubbins insists Newcastle remains an attractive place to players to ply their trade.‘‘I don’t think there’ll be a problem at all getting players to come to Newcastle,’’ Stubbins told the media after training on Thursday.
‘‘As I’ve said before,
I think there’s a fantastic platform here as a club ... in terms of bringing players to the Newcastle Jets, we want to be in a position next year at this time when we’re looking to be involved in finals football.
‘‘That ultimately is what everybody wants.’’
Stubbins said the Jets, who are set to miss the play-offs for the fifth consecutive season under the ownership of Nathan Tinkler, had endured ‘‘five years of hurt’’ but had made tough decisions that would allow them to rebuild.
‘‘There’s a lot of of conjecture going around at the moment,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s a lot of negativity going around at the moment.
‘‘I don’t think there’ll be a problem at all getting players to come to Newcastle.’’ - – PHIL STUBBINS
‘‘But as a consequence of that negativity, we really want to bring something to the table that’s going to be positive for the club moving forward and then be sustainable.’’
Stubbins said he joined the Jets ‘‘at the time when it was never going to be easy’’ but was now planning to recruit a roster capable of long-term success.
‘‘There’s a transition in place as we speak, and we’re looking forward to what’s going to happen down the track,’’ he said.
‘‘If things work out as the behind-the-scenes stuff starts to take effect, then the picture in 12 months time will be a different scenario ... we’d like to get a squad that buys into everything that we want and we can keep together for two, three, four years, with small adds-on and little additions.
‘‘That’s what we’re genuinely looking for.’’
Stubbins confirmed that between 10 and 15 Jets players were off contract and playing for their futures.
He said he had been involved in ‘‘ongoing conversations’’ with Newcastle’s free agents about their prospects of retention.
‘‘Those will continue,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s another one today. We’ll just keep continuing to communicate and let everyone know where everything is with some real, genuine transparency.’’
Stubbins was undecided on Thursday whether he would persist with Taylor Regan as skipper, or if the captain’s armband would be worn by Ben Kennedy, Jacob Pepper or new signing Daniel Mullen.
‘‘We’ve got a leadership group in there, four boys, and we’ll rotate that captaincy around,’’ he said.