JETS owner Nathan Tinkler has declared he "can't wait" to sell Newcastle's A-League franchise and sever ties completely with a city that he says "hasn't done anything but s - - t on me".

But as the struggling tycoon waits impatiently for a buyer so he can discard the team he has owned for almost four years, behind the scenes Newcastle officials are making a concerted effort to strengthen the bond with the fans who will keep the turnstiles clicking long after Tinkler has gone.

The Jets announced this week that they are creating a new six-person members committee that will meet four times each year to discuss issues surrounding the "match-day experience".

And in a further development, Newcastle chief executive Robbie Middleby has invited Football Federation Australia officials to meet with disgruntled members of the Squadron in the hope of resolving the dispute over this season's seating arrangements.

The Squadron have vehemently opposed FFA's plan to introduce compulsory ticketing for "active support" areas in all stadiums, describing this proposal as "absurd and overbearing".

Rather than congregate in FFA's designated Bay 60 zone at Hunter Stadium, the Squadron are threatening to stage a boycott by instead buying general-admission tickets and sitting elsewhere.

Middleby said both parties had valid viewpoints and was hopeful the issue could be resolved before the season kicks off in five weeks.

"I can see both sides of the argument, but it's a situation where we'll keep working towards facilitating a compromise that suits everyone..

"The Squadron is obviously very, very important to our club, and active support is very important for the A-League in general.


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"As a club, we want to work with all parties and for that reason I spoke to the FFA yesterday and asked them to come and meet with the Squadron committee and talk through it.

"Hopefully there will be a meeting in the next couple of weeks and they can resolve some differences."

Middleby said there had been strong interest from potential candidates for the members committee, after the club invited nominations via its website this week.

But he stressed the new body was not intended as a replacement for the now-defunct advisory board, disbanded by Tinkler more than two years ago and never replaced, despite a promise from the Hunter Sports Group that it would be "restructured" so that it "re-emerges with contributors from politics, the community, football and commerce".

"We hope the members committee will play an important role, but not so much with strategic decisions like signing players or coaches or how the team should be playing," Middleby said.

"It will be more about trying to work together so there is a forum to discuss things like membership packages, match-day atmosphere, active support and merchandise.

"Basically, we want to open up the lines of communication with our members so that they can have a bit more input and hopefully enjoy the best possible experience on game day."

The Jets believe they are on track to surpass last season's membership tally of 10,200. Their website said yesterday that they had almost 7200 members, 1000 of whom have joined in the past three weeks.
GAzFish as the club seems to want to deal with some trivial matters with this.

Can we get the thickness of our cards sorted
Can we also get the oversized magnet reinstalled.

I think this would be a big win for supporters if these wrongs were righted