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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
James Gardiner

A-League: Jets in holding pattern ahead of pivotal discussions

TALKS PROGRESSING: Jets chief executive Lawrie McKinna. Picture: Jonathan Carroll

JETS chief executive Lawrie McKinna expects the next three weeks to be pivotal in determining the direction the club takes on and off the field.

McKinna said negotiations with a consortium interested in buying the Jets from Martin Lee were reaching "the pointy end".

"Talks are progressing and a lot of information has been going back and forth," he said. "It is getting to the pointy end."

A term sheet was exchanged with an unnamed Sydney businessman last month only for the deal to break down.

The Mariners were put on he market last week.

The Jets have been for sale for 18 months and McKinna said although interest remains high, getting a sale had proved difficult.

"A few weeks ago, I met three new people," McKinna said. "There are no shortage of people wanting to talk about investing in clubs. It's actually getting someone across the line which is the hard part."

A Sydney newspaper on Monday reported that rich owners of other A-League clubs had held preliminary talks about pooling funds to buy battling clubs like the Jets and Mariners.

The proposed trust, which is likely to be financed by the likes of the City Football Group, Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow and Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro, would take control of the licence with the purpose of rebuilding those clubs, and then on-selling them at a profit.

Lee knocked back an offer of $12 million last year.

McKinna said a central hardship fund had been discussed by A-League owners 18 months ago but nothing new had been tabled.

"The original plan when they were going to go to an independent A-League was to have a slush fund there to help clubs," McKinna said. "That was a long time ago. It has not been brought up recently at any owners' meeting. If those discussions have been going on, it hasn't been out in the open."

The Jets are set to post a significant loss this season, and although in need of investment, McKinna said the situation wasn't dire.

"We are working away and getting through," he said. "Everybody is getting paid. It is not great but we are still bubbling along. It has been hard for a while. Nothing has changed."

FFA and clubs owners are in discussions about the annual grants clubs will receive next season from a reduced broadcast deal with Foxtel

In past years, those payments have covered the salary cap, which was $3.2m this season.

Once the grant is confirmed, the FFA, owners and players union will form a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires on August 31.

The Jets have 14 players under contract. Nigel Boogaard and Joe Ledley head the players off contract.

"At this point we don't know what the FFA distribution and salary cap is going to be for next season," McKinna said. "The boys under contract and boys out of contract want to know what is happening. We can't progress talks too far until we know what we can spend."

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