The Championship Chronicles - The Jetstream's review of the 2007/08 season. www.newcastlefootball.net/chronicles
2.5 hours late to the party, Jeterpool
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Getting closer (don't tell me the pic is photoshopped!)
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/39...-video/?cs=303
Interesting vision. Already ticking the right boxes, community focus.
Win win really. He gets a club for very cheap and can realistically be in ACL within a short time frame if the model is correct. He gets further exposure.
ffa will spend more on Bris than us, hardly a saving
Its now official..
Members emails:
Newcastle Jets has today welcomed Football Federation Australia’s (FFA) announcement that it has completed a 100 per cent sale of the club to Ledman Group (Ledman), a leading high-tech LED signage manufacturer, operator and integrated sports business headquartered in Shenzhen, China.
Since May 2015 Newcastle Jets has been under the ownership of FFA. During this time the club’s on and off field operations have been stabilised, while various connections with Newcastle’s business, football and community sectors have been re-established or made.
Mr Martin Lee, who is the major shareholder and chairman of Ledman - a company valued at over one billion Australian dollars - said his company is excited by the opportunity to invest in the Hyundai A-League with Newcastle Jets.
Indeed, Lee believes a sound platform for growth has been established over the past year, and intends to work closely with the club’s key stakeholders to help the Jets become a force in the Hyundai A-League and, in the longer term, Asia.
“We see a bright future for football across Asia and the Hyundai A-League is at the forefront as one of the top professional leagues in the region,” Lee said.
“The investment aligns with Ledman’s activities in several sectors of the sports industry and I’m excited by the potential of the club.
“Most of all, I understand that the Newcastle Jets are a very important part of the Newcastle community.
“I want to work closely with everyone in Newcastle, the members, fans and the local football community, to make this club the best it can be.
“In the coming months we will announce ways in which the community, and especially club members, can have a regular say in the running of the Jets. We will also announce a Board which will include a minimum of two local Directors.
“All existing agreements with Jets staff, sponsors, suppliers, and the community at large will be honoured in full following the formal handover from FFA to Ledman,” Lee concluded.
Ledman has also today announced that it has appointed former Central Coast Mariners Head Coach and Executive, Lawrie McKinna, as the club’s new Chief Executive Officer.
McKinna will replace current Newcastle Jets interim CEO, David Eland, when the ownership formally changes hands on or before Thursday 30 June 2016.
Eland, who is CEO at Northern New South Wales Football, was seconded by FFA to oversee Newcastle Jets operations in August last year, and has performed both roles simultaneously.
“I would like to recognise the role that David Eland has played in helping improve Newcastle Jets over the past year, and look forward to engaging with him during the upcoming transitional period,” McKinna said.
“David, alongside Jets staff and FFA, has readied the club for the next phase of its development. I am eager to work collaboratively and positively with him in his capacity as CEO at Northern NSW Football.
“I am excited to be taking up the challenge of administering one of the Hyundai A- League most unique clubs, and look forward to engaging in meaningful dialogue with Jets members and supporters soon as we seek to take the club from strength to strength.
“I was a player, albeit briefly, with Newcastle Breakers in the National Soccer League, and like many people have long recognised the enormous potential that exists for professional football in Newcastle.
“With Ledman’s backing combined with the continued support of our local and national stakeholders, I feel that we can build something big here in the Hunter,” McKinna concluded.
That's a low blow! I've had enough of him already. McKinna out.“I am excited to be taking up the challenge of administering one of the Hyundai A- League most unique clubs, and look forward to engaging in meaningful dialogue with Jets members and supporters soon as we seek to take the club from strength to strength.
well, for better or worse, at least we have know who the owner is now.
welcome Mr Lee, make us proud!
lol, could be a short dialogueand look forward to engaging in meaningful dialogue with Jets members and supporters
Well that's good news.Newcastle Jets are set to tour China in August as the club ramps up its efforts to become the Hyundai A-League club of choice for Chinese football fans.
At Tuesday’s launch of the Jets’ new owners the Ledman Group, headed by Chinese businessman Martin Lee, it was revealed the club plans to play a series of friendlies in China in late August.
Lee’s vision is for the Jets to have Chinese fans both in China and across Australia over time, helped by “one or two” Chinese players joining the Jets in the future.
The China tour may have to work around any Westfield FFA Cup commitments the Jets may have in August, but it’s an early sign that the club’s new owners want to expand their fan base and leverage the relationship between the two countries.
“The A-League is getting more and more attention from China through the Asian Champions League,” Lee told a large contingent of Australian and Chinese media on Tuesday at Hunter Stadium.
“Also the Australian national team won the Asian Cup. And Ledman has a very good network in China. So we do very good promotions for our acquisitions.
“And we also want one or two Chinese players in the future to join the Jets so we can get more and more attraction to Chinese fans.
"This is not only a good business decision but also a good decision for our two countries, Ledman and the local [Hunter] community."
The businessman explained Ledman’s ability to promote their own brands across the vast Chinese market would work very much in the Jets’ and the A-League’s favour.
"Now in China, football is booming. It is a very good direction. So, the strategy of our company," explained Lee, "is to invest money in China but also in overseas markets in football areas."
To that end, FFA CEO David Gallop will be in Beijing in early July to promote the merits of the A-League to Chinese business leaders.
Ledman sponsors the Portuguese second division, owns Chinese second division outfit Shenzhen Renren and has a strategic holding in InFront Sports and Media Group.
Lee spoke passionately about making the Jets the team of choice for Chinese fans.
“Ledman has many, many promotional messages [in China] including the advertisement times in the Chinese Super League for a very big network in national TV to promote anything, including Newcastle,” Lee said.
“So I think in the future we will get more fans in China."
Lee’s stated ambition is for the Jets to qualify for the Asian Champions League within three years.
If so, when they play in China against some of the teams in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, expect extra local Jets support to cheer the Australian team on.
“This is a very good story!” he said with a smile. “Three years later this will be a very good story!”
Lee also noted he would not be changing the club’s red and blue colours. “I think the colours are beautiful,” he said.
(inb4bring back the gold - Lee out etc)
As long as these players are a bit better than Zhang Shuo, im all for it.
lol, 'sif the jets will have FFA commitments in August.
Will be interesting to see if Lee and the Ledman Group can engage with and bring in Corporate support, whether it is local or international.
This is something which Con and Tinks both failed to do because of their "shoddy" business practices.
What a breath of fresh it will be to have an owner who operates in a professional and hopefully inclusive manner.
Sponsorship dollars from Corporate connections is so important in modern sport, if the new regime can tap into this, it can only benefit the club and make it a viable entity for the long-term.
If he really taps into the local business community (and the club last year made big head roads into that) and he brings in other Chinese sponsors/partners then the club is going to have money from outside the owners like it has never had before.
A winning team will see numbers in the stands swell as well.
I can see why he thinks it is possible to break even in two years.
reading some of the facebook comments...gee whiz, i think a few people need to calm down a bit