Insert Name Here aka The Ownership Thread

[hausmann]

yep, they probably do have a fall-back plan. no guarantee that fall-back involves Newcastle though. could just as easily be SE queensland, NSW south coast, southern Sydney or any other of the various locations that pop up now and again.

I don't think any of those locations have the potential support that a Hunter based club has. 3 years in a row of over 10,000 members, consistent top 4 or 5 crowd figures in the league and 2 NNSW places in the FFA cup would make it a disastrous move to remove an A-League club from this region.

And the Asian Cup is being brought here as a reward to the local football community.

I think the Gold Coast > WSW will have shown the FFA that new clubs have to be set up in the right market or they will be a burden on the league.

Their best bet is an overseas buyer.

An unlikely scenario is following the Knights to Wests. They have never shown interest in the Jets and unless they see them as simply a way to assist their Knights investment I don't see them being interested. The Knights will be run by rugby league people again and football is foreign to them.

Tinkler can't hand back the license without risking financial compensation.

The other alternative is that HSG might just want to make the Jets bigger than the Knights to show the rugby league fraternity what they have missed out on. I wouldn't discount this option because it is very hard to relinquish the spotlight once you find yourself in it. To let the Jets go will mean sinking back into anonymity and the question is whether or not Tinkler and Palmer want to do this. Tinkler has shown with Pattinak Farms that he likes to be seen to be a big shot. It all depends how angry Tinkler is at the Knights people and whether he wants to show them up.