A-League strugglers Newcastle Jets have been dealt another bitter blow, with highly-touted coach Arthur Papas resigning from the embattled club.
Papas was lured to the Hunter Valley in 2021 after a hugely successful time in Japan as an assistant coach to Ange Postecoglou, but has walked away after two seasons with the Jets.
His first season at McDonald Jones Stadium was spectacular on the eye, with the side playing some of the best attacking football in the league but narrowly missing out on a finals finish.
His second season saw a lot of the off-field issues start to become too much, as the Jets finished in 10th.
Coming back to Australia after his time in the far east, Papas was under no illusion in terms of the Newcastle job.
The Jets have been without an owner since 2021, when Martin Lee had his A-League licence revoked. Since then the besieged club has been kept afloat by a consortium of several clubs.
To say the Jets operate on the smell of an oily rag is an understatement, with the club having to work to a strict budget and being severely under the salary cap.
Papas has not been given the funds to compete with larger east coast sides when it comes to trying to sign players, instead being forced to rely on his eye for finding a bargain and promoting from the youth.
Arthur Papas (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Papas worked wonders with his recruitment, bringing in high quality visa recruits like Daniel Penha and Beka Mikeltadze, as well as proven A-League talent in Rene Piscopo and Brandon Wilson.
However, he was shocked to see the state of Newcastle’s academy, which he felt was neglected by previous coaches. The youth coach at the time, now Paramount+ commentator Daniel McBreen, responded by publicly blasting Papas with a firey tirade on Twitter.
There has also been the falling out over the past season between Papas and the Jets academy director Gary van Egmond – with the relationship as frosty as the current winter temperatures experienced in Australia.
There were rumours about the coach wanting to leave in January 2023 after the club’s prolonged sale to an American consortium dramatically collapsed.
Realising there would be no further financial injection into the squad and an underperforming youth academy, Papas decided to pull the pin and leave the Jets in a hurry to appoint a new manager before upcoming trial matches in late July.
He already has opportunities to resurrect his coaching career back in Japan, where his aura of the next great young Australian coach first came from.
It was that type of aura that had success-starved fans in Newcastle, as well as supporters of other sides, wondering if he was the real deal and able to return the Jets to greatness.
The answer to that question for many is no, but given all of the club’s off-field issues not even Europe’s best coach in Pep Guardiola would’ve been able to do much better than Papas.
The next Newcastle Jets coach may not have any say in terms of budget, but one thing they need to continue improving on from their predecessor is the maligned academy.
Standards in the academy have not been right for some time and several recent Australian squads selected for underage tournaments have not had a Newcastle player – a rarity for the region, which has always been a traditional hotbed for football.
As for the new coach? The Jets may look at former cult hero Rueben Zadkovich, who left his post as Perth Glory manager earlier this season.
They could even promote from within. Former Broadmeadow Magic coach Damien Zane has been in charge of the youth team since January 2023 and is well thought of inside the club.
Arthur Papas was highly regarded, but still was not able to turn around the Jets’ misfortunes.
It is one of the most poisoned chalices in the A-League due to the lack of ownership, but it’s also a good opportunity for a young coach to try and stop the Jets from forever being grounded.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Breakers stadium a dog track your got to be kidding, how is that better. The reality is a good coach will always succeed in the A-league no matter what happens. Monty is a good coach, Papas is rubbish, he is a barnacle on Anges rear and has ridden that for all its worth. Every year Talay had has truckload of garbage dumped on him and he still succeeds.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
The Hunter area is the birth place of Australian Football and the Hunter / Newcastle area has always had teams and played in the national league well before the league team Football in the are has always enjoyed mega media support equal to and often exceeding the league team... KB United, Rosebuds, Breakers etc all the same team actually.... In the NSL they had at Breaker Stadium a lovely 12.5 K stadium which they lost to some very nasty people.... and have had the bad luck to have Con then Nathen as owners and then their recent owners went bust when world economic conditions changed.... They deserve a decent owner.... but as things stand with APL its difficult to see people rushing the door to buy clubs... Personally I hope they do find a decent owner...
chris1
Roar Rookie
The Jets have so much going for them it's sad to see them in this state. Great stadium, good local support and good infrastructure with their academies. Things will improve of course. Look at the Mariners.
Tiger Toon
Roar Rookie
Yep, am I wrong in thinking we still have uncertainty over the ownership of the club as well? That probably doesn't help matters. Yes, you're not wrong. Given the proximity to CCM, it's amazing how much talented youth they are able to unearth and develop in comparison (especially with the Hunter region in the past having some prominence as a football catchment area). Seems the best way for the club to compete (without the resources of other clubs or being seen as a destination club) would be to focus on youth development or offering opportunity to player's elsewhere looking for a chance to impress. Maybe they could take chances on NPL talents (think the Phoenix and a few other club's tried that approach with some success in the past). Unless they can get a big name manager, seems it might be more of the same unfortunately. I suppose I should renew my membership - sounds like the club really needs all the help it can get at this stage.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
yes i think there will be a lot of trepidation from jets fans about this coming season and whether to renew memberships or not. i would not be surprised to see gary van egmond take the head coaches role on a short term basis - theres an australia cup match coming up in less than 4 weeks after all. financial side of things is an issue, but there are clubs with small budgets (mariners and adelaide) that have been able to thrive because of there youth set ups. the problem with the jets is the talent just isnt there in the younger players coming through the system. clubs in a reall tough situation currently, that i dont see getting better any time soon. it might be the time for the club to start copying their rivals (mariners) by poaching other sides really talented kids that aren't getting a look in at the bigger clubs
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i dont have that sort of relationship with ross (only met him officially once, but have seen him around adelaide a lot) im also not sold on him buying another a league club (after the adelaide deal fell through) adelaide united made sense with the amount of residential and commercial property (including sporting teams and stadiums) that the pelligra group now own in adelaide. (several hundred millions dollars worth and still growing)
Tiger Toon
Roar Rookie
Just got an email from the club yesterday asking me to renew my membership and was going to do it this morning before seeing this news Might wait and see who they appoint before committing. Really need a messiah type manager who can (with the obvious challenges and restraints on the club) unearth some talent and tactics to reinvigorate the club back to the upper echelons. When you're club has been languishing in the doldrums for so long (and is a regional club without the lure or attraction of a major capital city), it's hard to attract players and staff who might have better options elsewhere. My personal dream is the Jets are bought by NUFC and form part of a 'Newcastle Football Group' similar to City or Red Bull's feeder clubs. Already got the right name and some other historical links between the clubs and cities.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I think it’s a shame to see him go. It would be great if that White Knight came along soon and rescued the club. I reckon Ross Peligra could do a great job rebuilding this once incredible nursery of Australian football. He could turn them into our Catania. Can you chat to him SS? I reckon you’re right about Zadkovic – he did a good job at Perth with limited players and playing youth.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
had this article ready to go for a few months, paps will (and is not) short of job offers. slightly off topic, i literaly bumped into peter cklamovski (new manager of fc tokyo) a couple weeks ago in adelaide while i was getting coffee with some ex united players. his wife and her parents are from adelaide, so he was here visting them - had a very brief chat which included paps name.
David Shilovsky
Expert
Problem is, who's going to take up the coaching role at that basket case of a club?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Papas is a joker, we have seen hardly anything of Archie Goodwin and when he does get on its without the jets better players. Al Taay put in effort they won some games then got dumped. Papas is the problem.