I was always a fan of Papas. Played decent football, I think we were building and improving under him even of it was only small steps. He decided to move on, I think the uncertainty of the club being the main reason and the lack of resources available. Currently he is looking for a job, I think he applied for Wanderers job before they gave it to AS.
I hope Stanton can turn this around , but I think the set-up of the squad is wrong. I'm all for bringing in Young players, giving them an opportunity , But he needs to start worrying about results. History shows alot of the rookie Jets coaches that have struggled to get another coaching job after bombing out at Newcastle. Miller, Jones and Phil stubbing to name a few.
This is a results based industry, Stanton had a free pass last year and probably will see this year out if the Jets are competitive. But 1 win in 5 games is hardly competitive. I wonder if the A League was a promotion/ relegation league then the squad would look a bit different. Maybe the Jets need to treat it like it was.
I kept hearing that the Jets wanted to follow the same path of Adelaide or the Mariners in how they have built their squad. But we haven't mirrored their squad set-up. Both Central Coast and Adelaide do have their fair share of good young players, but both have plenty of good experienced players around them. Both also utilise well the foreign player allocation. The jets are probably the worst club at foreign signings in A League history. Yes, we have had some good ones, but we have had plenty of poor ones and now we don't really sign anywhere near the maximum quota of 5.
I think we do have some really good young attacking players, But imagine if we had 2 more experienced players around them? A Central midfielder and an attacker. I keep asking myself if I can see that , why can't Stanton? I know the Jets want to be a selling club, but do they realise foreign players can possibly be sold for more especially to Asian clubs. We had Carl Jenkinson in the squad for the last 2 years, we should be using his contacts for players.
I will always support the Jets. I hope Stanton's way comes off, I really do. But results need to improve, otherwise support will drop off. The rusted on supporters will stay on, but the fickle supporters will move on.