Newcastle United Jets FC

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For the English club, see Newcastle United F.C.

Newcastle United Jets FC
Full name	Newcastle United Jets Football Club
Nickname(s)	Jets
Founded	2000
Ground	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle (Capacity 26,000 - upgrading to 33,000)
Chairman	Con Constantine
Manager	Gary van Egmond
League	A-League
2007-08	Champions
Home colours 　 Away colours
Current season

Newcastle United Jets is an association football (soccer) club based in Newcastle, a city about 160km north of Sydney, Australia. The club competes in the A-League and plays its home games at Energy Australia Stadium (EAS). The Jets are the reigning A-League Champions, after winning 1 - 0^[1] against the Central Coast Mariners in the Grand Final in 2007-2008 season. In 2009 Newcastle Jets will play in the AFC Champions League for the first time.

The club was formed in 2000 when it joined the National Soccer League (NSL) as Newcastle United.^[2] and is one of only three former NSL clubs to appear in the A-League.

The club is currently owned by Cypriot-Australian businessman Con Constantine and managed by former Socceroo, Gary van Egmond.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Newcastle United 1.2 Newcastle United Jets 1.3 A-League 1.4 2007-08 1.5 2008-09 2 Colours and badge 3 Stadium 4 Supporters 5 Rivalries 6 Current Squad 6.1 Transfers 7 Notable former players 8 Captains 9 Managers 9.1 Other Staff 10 Honours 11 Top goal scorers 12 Year by year history 13 Records 13.1 Club 13.2 Player 14 References 15 External links

[edit] History

Main article: History of Football (Soccer) in Newcastle Australia

[edit] Newcastle United

Newcastle United Strip 2000-04

Newcastle United was formed in 2000 by Cypriot-Australian businessman Con Constantine from the remnants of the Newcastle Breakers club.^[3] The Breakers were dissolved when Soccer Australia revoked its NSL license at the conclusion of the 1999/2000 season. At the formation of Newcastle United the home ground was moved back to where Newcastle KB United played, now known as EnergyAustralia Stadium.

The Newcastle United club were reasonably successful, competing in two of the last three Final Series snf finishing 2nd in the League behind Perth Glory in the 2001-02 season.^[4] The clubs colours were Blue and Red, somewhat traditional colours of the region also worn by the Newcastle Knights Rugby League team.

[edit] Newcastle United Jets

Newcastle United was renamed as Newcastle United Jets when it joined the A-League in its inaugral 2005-06 season. The club was renamed to project a new image and to prevent confusion with the English Premier League club Newcastle United F.C.

The name "Jets" is a reference to RAAF Base Williamtown, located just 20 kilometres north of Newcastle. The club's logo depicts three F/A-18 Hornets, which the Royal Australian Air Force has based at Williamtown.

[edit] A-League

Former England and Australia manager Terry Venables was reported as favourite to become the team's technical director, including reports from the Jets, but this was confirmed by Venables' agent as a 'no-go'.^[5] Instead, the club signed Richard Money for the 2005-2006 season. In 2006 Money was replaced with Nick Theodorakopoulos after Money returned to England to take the manager's job at Walsall. In October 2006 after recording no wins during the Pre-Season Cup and during the first seven rounds of A-League matches, Theodorakopoulos became the first coach to be sacked in the club's A-League's history. His assistant Gary Van Egmond was the caretaker coach for the remainder of the 2006-7 season, but has recently signed a contract establishing him as the coach of the Jets for the next three years.

The club surprised many observers in the Australian game by signing Ned Zelic, a player who was seen to have severed connections with Australia after being dropped from the national team.

Reports suggested the Jets were attempting to bring ex Liverpool and England striker Stan Collymore out of retirement.^[6] Director of Football Remo Nogarotto confirmed the club had made a bid to lure Collymore to the A-League for a four-match guest stint; however, the move had broken down within 24 hours of it being made public.^[7]

Under the leadership of Gary Van Egmond Newcastle has achieved the highest amount of points out of all clubs in their last fourteen games and have also scored the most goals. As a result of their good form under Van Egmond, crowds in Newcastle have reached all time highs for football - culminating in a crowd of over 24,000 for their home final against Sydney FC on February 2nd, 2007.

Newcastle were eventually eliminated in the preliminary final by Adelaide, the game going to penalties after finishing at 1 all. Vaughan Coveny and Stuart Musialik missed their attempts in a shoot-out that ended up at 4-3 in favour of Adelaide, costing Newcastle their place in the grand final and a berth in the Asian Champions League.

[edit] 2007-08

Main article: Newcastle United Jets FC season 2007-08

Version 3 of the A-League saw a number of Newcastle's biggest stars of the previous season leave the club. Captain Paul Okon retired, fan favourite Milton Rodriguez returned to Colombia and Johnny Warren Medal winner Nick Carle moved to Turkey to link up with Gençlerbirliği S.K.. New recruits included Joel Griffiths' twin brother Adam and previous European Golden Boot winner Mario Jardel. Although significant excitement surrenounded the capture of Jardel, as time went by it was obvious he was well past his prime and received little game time. Throughout the season star striker Joel Griffiths broke the record for most goals in a regular season by scoring 12 in 21 rounds.^[8]

The Jets started the season well without losing in their first 5 matches. Following this good start the Jets struggled for consistency until the end of the season, often winning against quality opposition but losing some vital home games. Wins in the last three competition rounds saw the Jets move up the ladder to equal points with the Central Coast Mariners, finishing the season in 2nd place due to inferior goal difference. The Jets went on to play the Mariners in the two legged Major Semi Final. The Jets won the first leg at home 2-0 thanks to a first half header from Adam Griffiths and a late penalty from his brother Joel. The game had its fair share of controversy as Mariners striker John Aloisi had a seemingly legitimate goal dissallowed and also missed a penalty.^[9]

Steeled by the defeat in the first leg, the Mariners overturned the 2-0 defecit and lead 2-0 at the end of 90 minutes of the second leg thanks to goals from Sasho Petrovski and Adam Kwasnik. Seven minutes into extra time Petrovski scored again to send the Mariners into their second Grand Final in three years.^[10]

The Jets qualified for their first A-League Grand Final by beating Queensland Roar 3-2 after extra time in the 2008 Preliminary Final on 17 February 2008.^[11] The Jets lead 1-0 until deep into injury time when the Roar were awarded a penalty which Reinaldo successfully converted, sending the match into extra time. A few minutes into extra time the Jets were awarded a penalty as well as Song Jin-Hyung was brought down in the box. Joel Griffiths was successful from the spot to restore the 1 goal advantage and a few moments later Tarek Elrich sealed passage into the Grand Final with a well timed shot to score his first A-League goal. Although the Roar received another late penalty it was too late to stop the Jets march into the Grand Final.

The Jets defeated the Central Coast Mariners in the 2007-08 A-League Grand Final, becoming A-League Champions for the first time.

The game was sealed with a solitary Mark Bridge strike early in the second half.^[12] In his last game of professional football Tony Vidmar made a mistake near the halfway line to gift Bridge with an opportunity which he grasped with both hands. The game was marred by a late penalty appeal for handball. Mariners goal keeper Danny Vukovic had come up for the corner and was so infuriated by Mark Shield's denial that he slapped his hand away, earning himself a lengthy ban and ruling himself out of the early rounds of next season.^[13] Both the Jets and Mariners have qualified to take part in the 2009 AFC Champions League.

[edit] 2008-09

Main article: Newcastle United Jets FC season 2008-09

After the success of the 2007-08 season a number of Jets players left the club including Mark Bridge and Stuart Musialik to Sydney FC and Joe Marston Medal winner Andrew Durante and Troy Hearfield to Wellington Phoenix. There are also rumours of captain Jade North and Adam Griffiths wishing to leave the club after being a part of the Socceroos squad that faced Singapore and China although no official offers have been made public.^[14][15]

Rumoured potential signings include defender Adrian Madaschi and ex Melbourne Victory player Ljubo Milicevic. Rumours have also persisted about the return of Ryan Griffiths to complete the Griffiths trio, but these seem unfounded as Newcastle would be unlikely to be able to meet his wage demands, even though he is on loan from club Rapid Bucharest at Liaoning F.C. in China.^[16]

Most players who have left the Jets have suggested wage demands as the major issue with Jets owner Con Constantine refusing to allow players to utilise service agreements which would allow more flexibility under the salary cap.^[17][17]

Forward Jason Naidovski was the first new player to sign on for the Jets for season 2008-09, arriving from the Australian Institute of Sport followed by right sided midfielder Shaun Ontong from Adelaide United,^[18][19] and exciting under 20's Australian representative Kaz Patafta from Melbourne Victory.^[20]

[edit] Colours and badge

Newcastle Jets plays in a gold jersey with navy and red trim and navy blue shorts and socks. The emphasis on Gold is evident which is markedly different to the jersey worn by the original NSL club which was almost exclusively red and blue.

The away top, like all A-League teams with the exception of Melbourne Victory, is white. The top has gold sleeves (a common A-League trait is to have the home colours on the sleeves of the away kit), with gold shorts and white socks to complete the change kit.

[edit] Stadium

Main article: EnergyAustralia Stadium

EnergyAustralia Stadium is the home ground of the Newcastle United Jets and the Newcastle Knights. It has a capacity of 26,100.

The record crowd for a football match in Newcastle was set at EnergyAustralia Stadium on February 2, 2007 in the second leg of the A-League 2006-07 minor semi final against Sydney FC, in front of 24,338 people.^[21] This broke the record set earlier that season on New Years Day, where a crowd of 20,980 turned up to see a 2-0 loss against the same opposition.^[22] Prior to that game the football attendance record for a match in Newcastle stood for 52 years, set when Australia played Rapid Vienna.

In the next few years, EAS will be turned into a modern, state-of-the-art 33,000-seat ground.^[23] This upgrade is as a result of plans to hold the 2015 AFC Asian Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup in Australia. Newcastle may be one of the venues for these event, and minimum standards set by FIFA mean EAS is inadequate for this role. The next upgrade will involve demolishing the western grandstand and replacing it with one similar to the east, as well as placing seated areas on the hill at either end of the ground. This upgrade will cost around $60 Million dollars, of which $50 million is being provided by the State Government.^[24] This upgrade means the Jets attendance figures can grow immensely, and will also qualify the Jets to host any Grand Finals they reach in the future.

[edit] Supporters

The club's biggest supporters group is known as the Squadron which was formed in anticipation of the first ever A-League game between Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United. The Squadron begun standing behind the goals on the Southern Hill however because of the layout of the stadium moved to Bay 2 of the Eastern Grandstand at EnergyAustralia Stadium, in a successful attempt to increase group coordination and noise level. As the club's performances improved throughout the 2006-07 season the Squadron's numbers grew rapidly and have continued to grow throughout the 2007-08 season. Plans are now being made to expand the group further left into bay 1 to decrease the severe overcrowding with the goal of ultimately returning to the Southern Hill.

[edit] Rivalries

Due to its geographical proximity, Newcastle shares a strong rivalry with both NSW A-League clubs.

• Central Coast Mariners: Newcastle's biggest rival, the two teams fought out a tough semi-final tie in the inaugural A-League season's Finals competition. Also, star Mariners striker Nik Mrdja broke the leg of Newcastle defender Andrew Durante,^[25] earning him a tag as Newcastle's "hate-boy". Newcastle broke their crowd record against the Mariners on 12 January 2008 with 19,238 fans turning up to see a Newcastle triumph 2-1. In the 2007-08 season of the game the Newcastle Jets beat the Mariners 2-0 in the first leg of the major semi-final, before being beaten 3-0 in extra time in the second leg at Bluetongue Stadium.^[26] The Jets also defeated the Mariners 1-0 in the 2007/08 A-League Grand Final.

• Sydney FC: Originally only considered rivals due to their locations, the two clubs are now bitter competitors. The Jets set their all-time record attendance of more than 24,000 at the home leg of the semi-final tie between the two in the competition's second season. In the A-League 2007-08 season, Sydney won all three games with close 1-0 victories.

[edit] Current Squad

Players in bold have senior international caps.

Name and position	No	Joined in	Former team	Birth date	Citizenship
Goalkeepers
Ante Covic	1	2007	Hammarby	June 13, 1975 (1975-06-13) (age 32)
Ben Kennedy	20	2006	Adamstown Rosebuds	February 14, 1987 (1987-02-14) (age 21)
Defenders
Adam Griffiths	2	2007	Brentford	August 21, 1979 (1979-08-21) (age 28)
Jade North	3	2005	Perth Glory	January 7, 1982 (1982-01-07) (age 26)
Tarek Elrich	11	2006	Sydney Olympic	January 1, 1987 (1987-01-01) (age 21)
Adam D'Apuzzo	13	2006	Marconi Stallions	October 20, 1986 (1986-10-20) (age 21)
Midfielders
Matt Thompson	8	2005	Marconi Stallions	August 18, 1982 (1982-08-18) (age 25)
Jobe Wheelhouse	14	2005	Newcastle United	April 14, 1985 (1985-04-14) (age 23)
Noel Spencer	18	2007	Sydney FC	July 26, 1977 (1977-07-26) (age 30)
James Holland (Youth)	25	2007	Central Coast Mariners	May 15, 1989 (1989-05-15) (age 19)
Ben Kantarovski (Youth)	26	2008	Broadmeadow Magic FC	January 20, 1992 (1992-01-20) (age 16)
Song Jin-Hyung	28	2008	FC Seoul	August 13, 1987 (1987-08-13) (age 20)
Shaun Ontong	–	2008	Adelaide United	March 25, 1987 (1987-03-25) (age 21)
Kaz Patafta	–	2008	S.L. Benfica	October 25, 1988 (1988-10-25) (age 19)
Strikers
Joel Griffiths	9	2006	Leeds United	August 21, 1979 (1979-08-21) (age 28)
Jason Naidovski (Youth)	19	2008	AIS	July 19, 1989 (1989-07-19) (age 18)
Jason Hoffman (Youth)	23	2008	Hamilton Olympic Warriors FC	January 28, 1989 (1989-01-28) (age 19)

[edit] Transfers

In

• Jason Naidovski from AIS
• Shaun Ontong from Adelaide United
• Kaz Patafta from Benfica

Out

• Stephen Laybutt, Contract Not Renewed
• Denni, Contract Not Renewed
• Andrew Durante, to Wellington Phoenix
• Mark Bridge, to Sydney FC
• Paul Kohler, Released
• Stuart Musialik, to Sydney FC
• Troy Hearfield, to Wellington Pheonix
• Scott Tunbridge, Released

[edit] Notable former players

• Andrew Durante
• Ante Milicic
• Labinot Haliti
• Mario Jardel
• Mark Bridge
• Stuart Musialik
• Mateo Corbo
• Milton Rodriguez
• Ned Zelic
• Nick Carle
• Paul Okon
• Vaughan Coveny

[edit] Captains

• Ned Zelic (2005-06)
• Paul Okon (2006-07)
• Jade North (2007-present)

[edit] Managers

• Ian Crook (2001–2004)
• Richard Money (2005–2006)
• Nick Theodorakopoulos (2006)
• Gary van Egmond (2006–present)

[edit] Other Staff

• Con Constantine (Owner, Chairman)
• John Tsatsimas (CEO)
• Remo Nogarotto (Director of Football)
• Mark Jones (Assistant Coach)
• Clint Gosling (Goalkeeping Coach)

[edit] Honours

• A-League Championship:
  • Semi-Finalists: 2005–06
  • Preliminary Finalists: 2006–07
  • Champions 2007-08
  • Fair Play Award 2007-08
• Individual Awards:
  • Coach of the Year 2007-08 (Gary van Egmond)
  • Johnny Warren Medal 2006-07 (Nick Carle), 2007-08 (Joel Griffiths)
  • Reebok Golden Boot 2007-08 (Joel Griffiths)
  • Joe Marston Medal 2007-08 (Andrew Durante)

[edit] Top goal scorers

Last updated 29 January 2008

	Name	Goals	Games	Average	Years
1	Joel Griffiths	21	42	0.49	2006-present
2	Mark Bridge	12	47	0.26	2005-2008
3	Vaughan Coveny	9	31	0.29	2005-2007
4	Ante Miličić	7	20	0.35	2005-2006
5	Milton Rodriguez	7	21	0.33	2006-2007
6	Nick Carle	7	43	0.16	2005-2007
7	Matt Thompson	7	69	0.09	2005-present

[edit] Year by year history

Brackets indicate statistics including A-League finals.

Newcastle United Jets League History

Season	P	W	D	L	F	A	Teams	Minor Ladder Position	Finals Position	ACL Qualification	ACL Placing
2005-06	21 (23)	9 (9)	4 (5)	8 (9)	27 (28)	29 (31)	8	4th	Minor Semi-Final	DNQ	n/a
2006-07	21 (24)	8 (9)	6 (6)	7 (9)	32 (36)	30 (33)	8	3rd	Preliminary Final	DNQ	DNQ
2007-08	21 (25)	9 (12)	7 (7)	5 (6)	25 (31)	21 (26)	8	2nd	Champions	Qualified for 2009	TBA
2008-09	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

Newcastle Jets along with Sydney FC are the only A-League clubs to qualify for every final series.

[edit] Records

(All records as of the end of Season 2007-08)

[edit] Club

• Record victory:
  • Newcastle Jets 4 def. New Zealand Knights 0, September 18, 2005 (Round 4 - 2005-06 season)
  • Newcastle Jets 4 def. Melbourne Victory 0, January 19, 2007 (Round 21 - 2006-07 season)

• Record defeat: Queensland Roar 5 def. Newcastle Jets 0, January 26, 2006 (Round 20 - 2005-06 season)

• High scoring game (6)
  • Perth Glory 5 def. Newcastle Jets 1, October 8, 2005 (Round 7 - 2005-06 season)
  • Newcastle Jets 4 def. Adelaide United 2, October 14, 2005 (Round 8 - 2005-06 season)
  • Newcastle Jets 4 def. New Zealand Knights 2, November 4, 2005 (Round 11 - 2005-06 season)
  • Adelaide United 5 def. Newcastle Jets 1 September 8, 2006 (Round 3 - 2006-07 season)
  • Perth Glory 3 drew Newcastle Jets 3, January 14, 2007 (Round 20 - 2006-07 season)

• A-League Streaks (Including Finals)
  • Winning Streak: 4 Round 19 2007-08 season (January 4, 2008) - Major Semi Final (leg 1) 2007-08 season (January 27, 2008)
  • Losing Streak: 3 Round 5 2005-06 season (September 25, 2005) - Round 7 2005-06 season (October 8, 2005)
  • Games without losing: 7 Round 8 2005-06 season (October 14, 2005) - Round 14 2005-06 season (November 25, 2005)
  • Games without winning: 11 Round 20 2005-06 season (January 26, 2006) - Round 7 2006-07 season (October 8, 2006)

• A-League Regular Season Attendance: 20,980 (vs Sydney FC – January 1, 2007)
• A-League Finals Series Attendance: 24,338 (vs Sydney FC – February 2, 2007)
• Record Average Regular Season Attendance: 13,209 (A-League 2007-08)
• Record Regular Season Total Attendance: 145,303 (A-League 2007-08)

[edit] Player

• Most A-League appearances: Matt Thompson – 69
• Most goals in a game: Ante Milicic – 3 New Zealand Knights v Newcastle Jets November 4, 2005 (Round 11 - 2005-06 season)
• Moost Goals in a Regular Season Joel Griffiths 12 (2007-08, A-League record)
• Record transfer fee received: AU$650,000 for Nick Carle from Gençlerbirliği S.K.
• Most Yellow Cards in a season: (9)
  • Joel Griffiths (2006-07)
  • Adam Griffiths (2007-08)
• Most Red Cards in a Season: (2)
  • Mateo Corbo (2005-06)
  • Joel Griffiths (2006-07)
• Most Yellow Cards (Total): (15) Joel Griffiths
• Most Red cards (Total): (2) Mateo Corbo, Joel Griffiths

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official club website
• Official A-League website
• Unofficial supporters website
• Official Squadron website

Preceded by Melbourne Victory

A-League Champions 2007/08

Succeeded by Incumbent

Football in Australia v • d • e
Governing body: Football Federation Australia National leagues: A-League • Youth League | Former: National Soccer League
Hyundai A-League v • d • e
Lists: Champions • Records • Foreign players Seasons:  2005-06 • 2006-07 • 2007-08 • 2008-09 Teams:  Adelaide United • Central Coast Mariners Melbourne Victory • Newcastle Jets • Perth Glory Queensland Roar • Sydney FC • Wellington Phoenix Defunct team: New Zealand Knights
Newcastle Jets v • d • e
Home: EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle, New South Wales Coach: Gary van Egmond | Captain: Jade North Seasons: 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 Current squad: 1 Covic | 2 A. Griffiths | 3 North | 8 Thompson | 9 J. Griffiths | 11 Elrich | 13 D'Apuzzo | 14 Wheelhouse | 18 Spencer | 19 Naidovski | 20 Kennedy | 23 Hoffman | 25 Holland | 26 Kantarovski | 28 Song | – Ontong | – Patafta

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