Newcastle Jets CEO John Tsatsimas has urged the local community to get behind the team in their hour of need as they face a cash-flow crisis which has seen them miss player payments over the first month of the season.
Newcastle Jets CEO John Tsatsimas has urged the local community to get behind the team in their hour of need as they face a cash-flow crisis which has seen them miss player payments over the first month of the season.
Club chairman Con Constantine has approached FFA to seek a short-term loan after a shortfall in sponsorship has seen them end up in a financial crisis.
Tsatsimas has every confidence that Constantine remains committed to the club despite the fact that he has been forced to prop them up to ensure the Jets meet their existing debts.
“He’s a very proud man and he’s a very dignified man at the end of the day, he doesn’t want to abandon the ship so to speak and he’s very much committed to fighting this battle and seeing Newcastle through,” Tsatsimas said.
Tsatsimas has now called on the Newcastle community to show a similar level of commitment to the embattled club.
“I would urge and implore everyone tog get out an support the Jets on Sunday. It-s a time of need,” he said.
Tsatsimas said the club are working very hard to secure a key sponsorship deal and is confident that the issue around player payments is only short term.
“We are making every endeavour in terms of that. It’s not ideal that we have any other backers other than Con at this time. The deal has got to be realistic and commensurate with what the opportunity is. Unfortunately the appropriate sponsorship deal has not come across,” he said.
The CEO met with the players on Tuesday morning to explain the situation and said that there is no sense of disunity at the club.
“We are a very united group, I couldn-t ask (for) a better group of people to be in the trenches with at the moment. We are all united in terms of the issues,” he said.
