That is his legacy.

From a pure football sense, that magical moment on February 24, 2008, when the Jets held aloft the A-League championship trophy was the pinnacle, the holy grail.

It brought an end to 30 years of heartache for a region that has produced some of the country's best players but was without a title to hang it on.

But like a coach who has lost his dressing room, the larger than life owner of Parklea Markets was unable to hold the Newcastle community.

Through his business practices and dictatorial style, he disenfranchised the people who matter most - the fans.

Right or wrong, the Jets were seen as Con's club, not the community's club.

By his reckoning, he has poured $15 million into the Jets. On that basis, he had every right to run it the way he wanted.

Ultimately, he could not pay the bills and the Newcastle corporate community was not about to come running to his aid.

Constantine is a unique package. He divides opinion. You either love him or hate him.

Yesterday's announcement was nearly 10 years to the day (September 28, 2000) since he formed Newcastle United after coming to the rescue of the financially crippled Newcastle Breakers.

For the past five years, the Jets have been a part of Australian soccer's new frontier - the A-League.

There have been some spectacular achievements.

The dramatic 1-0 victory over arch enemies Central Coast Mariners in the 2007-08 A-League grand final will go down as one of the greatest days in the Hunter's rich sporting history.

Thousands of Novocastrians turned Sydney Football Stadium into a sea of gold.

And boy, did they party when Mark Bridge struck that crisp drive past Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic to seal the 1-0 triumph and wipe away years of anguish.

The premiership triumph brought with it qualification for the Asian Champions League and a new stage on which to show off the Hunter.

And again, the Jets soared, beating teams with bigger names and much bigger budgets, to progress past the group stage, only to be knocked out by eventual winners Pohang Steelers.

Apart from the title, Constantine, through the Jets, has provided the opportunity for youngsters Ben Kantarovski, Jobe Wheelhouse, Ben Kennedy, Stuart Musialik, Jason Hoffman and others to compete at the elite level without leaving their home town.

Championship-winning coach Gary van Egmond may still have been working as a sales representative for a soft-drink company if not given a chance by Constantine.

But for all the success, there has been a long list of poor decisions and public relations disasters.

The recruitment of fallen Brazilian star Mario Jardel and Constantine's subsequent insistence that he played made the Jets the laughing stock of the league.

His decision to let grand final heroes Stuart Musialik, Andrew Durante and Bridge go was deemed inexcusable by large sections of the supporter base.

At one point Constantine threatened to throw members of the Squadron supporters club off the balcony of the Andrew Johns Stand at EnergyAustralia Stadium after they criticised his management style.

But while you can question Constantine's methods, his passion for the Jets is not in dispute.

It has been at the forefront from the moment he bought the licence, paying $319,000, for Newcastle to compete in the old National Soccer League after it was withdrawn from David Hall, who was later declared bankrupt.

In his opening address, Constantine boldly declared: "I'm going to make a club that everyone in Newcastle will be proud of. The only way we are going to make it happen is for everyone to unite.

"If we are all united, we are going to stand and we are going to go forward."

Yesterday, as he presided over a bitter and tearful press conference at his headquarters in The Store, a banner hung from the table proclaiming "United as one".

Sadly, that was no longer the case.

First he lost the Newcastle business sector.

Then he lost the Newcastle football fraternity.

Now he has lost his team.