Newcastle Jets’ victory a rocket for morale
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By Paddy Higgs, 19 Mar 2009 Paddy Higgs is a Roar Pro
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One victory doesn’t make a campaign. But the delight that emanated from Newcastle after the Jets’ 2-0 win over Ulsan Hyundai on Tuesday was almost audible. It’s been a year of pain for the Jets and their suffering supporters, falling from champions to wooden spooners in the A-League.
And while many wrote off Newcastle’s Asian Champions League chances before it even kicked a ball, the competition may prove to be the silver lining on what was dark and sullen cloud.
Whether the blame for the Jets’ mire lies at the feet of owner Con Constantine or coach Gary Van Egmond, the club didn’t seem a popular place to be not so long ago.
Striker Joel Griffiths – who spoke of how “grateful” he was to the club after it upgraded him to marquee status just last October – landed himself a year-long loan deal to ACL opponent Beijing Gouan, while Mark Milligan joined 2008 departures Jade North and James Holland on the exit list.
The rot hasn’t completely stopped either; goalkeeper Ante Covic has played his last game for the club and is heading back to Swedish football, where he first arrived on the Australian national team radar.
But the Asian Champions League has allowed to Van Egmond to bring new players to the club, and that has been the cause of much-needed optimism for Jets’ supporters.
They might still be unproven, but foreign signings Donny Van Groot and Fabio Vignaroli have added direction and panache to the side and could yet prove to be solid A-League contributors.
Commanding defenders Angelo Costanzo and Ljubo Milicevic stiffened what was the the A-League’s second-most porous defence this season and also vastly improved the Jets’ onfield leadership.
And Sasho Petrovski – perhaps best described by colleague Mike Tuckerman as a “pantomine-style villain” – has wasted little time endearing himself to the fans of his new club by scoring the two goals in Tuesday’s game.
Newcastle’s squad is hardly as deep and talented as the one which Adelaide had for its enchanting ACL run, and it may find it hard to earn an extended run in the competition.
It should also be pointed out that Tuesday’s win was at home against probably the Jets’ weakest Group E opponent, which declared it had only sent over its second-string side.
But a few solid performances in the ACL – perhaps even jagging the Group E’s second spot and a subsequent ticket into the round of 16 – should be enough to re-invigorate Newcastle and get it and its fans looking forward to the 2009/10 season.
Just a few short weeks ago, that would have seemed a vastly unlikely prospect.
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BIGfootBALLS said | March 19th 2009 @ 9:08am | Report comment
Bit early to be celebrating in my opinion. Let’s see who is partying a few months from now.
jimbo said | March 19th 2009 @ 9:59am | Report comment
II sympathise with those Jets fans – any win is a good win at the moment and the first of our two ACL reps to get 3 points.
A tough group, and they’ll need an away upset or two to have a chance of progressing.
The new players did well and GVE doing a good job instilling the renewed team enthusiasm.
midfield general said | March 19th 2009 @ 10:32am | Report comment
I think they can sneak in, but maintaining match fitness might be an issue in off season – I thought they looked visibly tired compared to the Koreans. Tough ask getting anything out of their games against Nagoya – they’re one of the top teams in Japan, finished higher than Gamba Osaka last year. Good on Ljubo Milicevic, if he keeps this up he might be a bolter for WC next year – surely he’s better than likes on Coyne and Beauchamp.
Why doesn’t GVE try to get another job is beyond me, especially in view of Covic leaving – I know players will always come and go in A league, but there must be more to it at Newcastle.
jimbo said | March 19th 2009 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
Con and the Newcastle board treat player transfers as their main source of income and look to the youth team to step up and fill the gaps.
The Jets grossed over $6M in transfer money this season.
But its causing great problems to the team morale, team building and GVE putting a decent team together, they are lucky they have such an understanding manager.
Paddy Higgs said | March 19th 2009 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
Jimbo, you are dead right. How can the Jets have consistent success on the field when they consistently lose their best players?
David V. said | March 19th 2009 @ 1:49pm | Report comment
It reminds me of Robert Chase at Norwich, after Norwich finished 3rd, put Bayern Münich out of Europe and then Chase began asset stripping the place, leading to relegation from which the club has never recovered from. A fan campaign to have Chase ousted succeeded though.
Napoli were horribly run under Corrado Ferlaino, and after the 1997 Coppa Italia final pretty much the whole team bar a few were sold off. Relegation followed, and only now they’ve recovered- following bankruptcy.
Middlesbrough endured some absolute crap- selling Craig Johnston, Marc Proctor and Dave Armstrong, then John Neal left for Chelsea (whom he played a big part in saving), then Charlie Amer quit after all the damage has being done, leading to the catastrophic events of 1986 in which they were even locked out of their own ground.
Sunderland under Tom Cowie was a horror show, he sacked two decent managers (Ken Knighton and Alan Durban) for apparently non-football reasons, then appointed Lawrie McMenemy who destroyed the club.
There are many more examples, but Con Constantine has done well to follow those.
Jim of Altona East said | March 20th 2009 @ 9:55am | Report comment
I think this says it all:
It should also be pointed out that Tuesday’s win was at home against probably the Jets’ weakest Group E opponent, which declared it had only sent over its second-string side.
I wouldn’t be getting too carried away if I was a Jets fan.