THE Newcastle Jets are expected to announce in coming days that new owners have been secured who will ensure the club's survival beyond the end of this season.
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The Newcastle Herald has been told that an offer has been accepted from a consortium comprising businessmen based in Melbourne and Sydney, and that lawyers have been working through the sale-and-purchase agreement.
When that paperwork has been completed, the incoming owners will be officially announced, concluding a takeover process that kicked off more than six months ago.
In the unlikely instance that the deal was to fall over at the 11th hour, it is understood that Australian Professional Leagues (APL), which administers the A-League competitions, has an alternative ownership group waiting in the wings.
The likely new owners initially expressed interest in taking over the Jets when advisory-and-investment firm Kordamentha was commissioned in October to broker a sale of the embattled franchise, which has been funded on a stopgap basis by the owners of rival A-League clubs for more than three years.
It is understood they were not the preferred option, and instead the APL was hoping to strike a deal with FC32, a US-based group that owns other sporting franchises overseas. But FC32 withdrew its offer last month, after which principal Paul Francis told the Herald: "Our best bid was not competitive enough ... we have to move on."
When FC32 fell through, APL resumed negotiations with the other parties who had expressed interest.
From those negotiations, the APL identified their next-best option as being a group of businessmen, of whom some had previously been involved in setting up the Western United franchise.
The Herald has been told the likely new owners are hoping to retain key personnel, including A-League head coaches Rob Stanton and Ryan Campbell and executive chairman Shane Mattiske.
They intend to invest in the club and provide improved resources, but hope to do so with a sustainable budget and won't have the same financial capacity as heavyweight clubs such as Melbourne City or Sydney FC.
Instead they plan to reinvent the Jets as a community club that does not rely so heavily on its owners to stay afloat. As has been shown in the failed tenures of former Jets owners Con Constantine, Nathan Tinkler and Martin Lee, in Newcastle the lone-benefactor business model has a history of ending in tears.
The likely new owners have identified Newcastle's junior academy as a priority and, in particular, believe it is essential for those teams to win promotion to the top-flight junior competitions.
They also have plans, once they believe that the club has been stabilised, that would enable fans to become stakeholding members who could eventually hold voting rights and potentially be elected to a board of directors.
There is a sense of urgency about completing the takeover, so that coaches Stanton and Campbell can finalise their rosters and start planning for their respective 2024-25 pre-seasons.
