Despite the management failures of the past owners, we seem to have a loyal fan base of around 10,000, a figure that seems to increase in successful seasons.

It would take more space than permitted here to outline why the club is where it is today. Suffice to say that the owners past have produced the odd good team but have failed to build a successful football club. I have always had the view that a properly-managed franchise here in Newcastle would rival any in the country.

The big question now is, how do the Jets move forward from the position we find ourselves in?

Clearly for the integrity of the A-League, either the FFA or the A-League owners must ensure the survival of the team for this season. How this survival package is managed could provide the pathway to community ownership.

The first step should be the appointment of a board of directors chaired by a hard-nosed corporate operator whose job it would be to prepare the club for the capital raising. Any existing debt would be rolled over into the new structure as equity. Maybe, just maybe, Mr Dillon has the answer.

WITH COVID dominating our lives since March, it's been the small acts of kindness that have given us hope, like the group of volunteers who have spent the last couple of years looking after the cats living at the break wall at Stockton.

The volunteers not only purchase food and feed the cats every day (ensuring the cats are not feral and do not hunt native animals, not that native animals live on a breakwater), but they also paid to have all the cats microchipped and desexed.

Furthermore, volunteers have reduced the population from 100 to 40 as they have actively found new homes for many of the cats. So it is shocking to learn that the Port of Newcastle chose to have these cats shot ('Authorities must step in', Herald 21/12). Apparently one without consulting those who have spent the past couple of years looking after them, the shootings left some cats injured to die agonising, drawn-out deaths. This act in my opinion does not reflect Newcastle's standards or our values.

I believe the CEO of the Port of Newcastle, Mr Craig Carmody and the Port's Chairman, Professor Roy Green, need to carefully examine how this directive occurred under their leadership. I agree the authorities and the RSPCA also need to investigate this thoroughly. This incident has caused distress not only to those who cared for the cats, who were living on public land, but also for thousands of others as we learn about this terrible event.

I HAVE recently, due to COVID, become a bus driver and as such have become acutely aware of the problems with misplaced pedestrian crossings around Newcastle. The two that stand out are the corners of Watkins and Patrick streets, and King and Watt.

As the bus, or car for that matter, is moved forward to be able to view the traffic from the right, the kerb side and approach to the crossing is very difficult to view, as it is then more than 90 degrees to the left. With most of the populace addicted to mobile phones because of a social media post on the other side of the globe, few either hear or see any of the dangers that might be approaching, including a 12.5-metre, 17-tonne bus.

Level crossings should not be placed adjacent to intersections, period. Could the fixer, Mr Bath, get on to this before somebody is hurt?

STEADFASTLY avoiding the point again, Peter Dolan resorts to the de rigueur tactic of the modern day "conservative" - "but they do it too!" (Short Takes, 19/12).

It's trite to observe that politicians of all persuasions are at times guilty of misbehaviour. But that doesn't mean all parties, ipso facto, must at all times stand equally accused.

As I see it, this government, at senior levels and over a number of years, has a terrible record of misconduct, compounded by an almost complete lack of consequences. I think the evidence confirms this. Does this conclusion lack merit because I fail to mention Eddie Obeid?

As a response to this reality, the moral relativism Mr Dolan selectively trots out does serve to confirm my general point, which is that if this kind of behaviour in public office is met with resigned, rationalising passivity, it will proliferate. As it is. Abraham Lincoln and Aristotle would have cared about that. Does Mr Dolan?

I WAS impressed with your sensible editorial about the war on cannabis (Opinion, 22/12). Indeed the drug laws are both unfair and ineffective. However, with respect, I take issue with the statement that marijuana's reputation as a gateway drug is "well founded".

No, that is just another propaganda message spread by the prohibition industry.

First, people accepting that claim must also accept that alcohol is a gateway drug to cannabis, because people usually try that first.

Second, while it's true that most people with a hard drug problem have first tried cannabis, it's also true that the vast majority of cannabis users do not go on to have a hard drug problem.

The fact is that, under prohibition, people who have access to one illegal drug most likely have access to others through an illicit supply chain. Legalising, regulating and taxing the weed would close that gateway.

I CAME here in 2012 where my daughter was born and it was such a peaceful loving town which has since devolved.

Where has all the talent gone? The streets used to be clean, hedges trimmed and buildings free from graffiti, people smiled and greeted each other, a real family vibe which has since evaporated.

I came back to Newcastle because I wanted to show my daughter she can be proud to have been born here, the only thing I have shown her was a picture of the beach because that's about the only thing you haven't messed up yet. You can try to blame COVID-19 for your rudeness and inhospitality, but you can feel the town is dead.

Maybe it is just me, maybe it is just I have outgrown this town, but what a disappointment. You will forever be etched in my memory as a mistake I regret I made.

I WONDER it the cat cull ('Inquiry into cat shooting continues', Herald 23/12) would have occurred had the Port of Newcastle not been privatised.

ON Monday night we put the garbage out as usual. It was picked up early Tuesday morning and when we went out to bring the bin in it was nowhere to be seen. We checked our security camera and lo and behold when the garbage truck picked up the rubbish, our bin ended up in the garbage truck. We located the bin positioners, explained our dilemma and were told they would come back with another bin. By lunchtime no bin, so City of Newcastle was rung, only to be informed that nothing had been logged about the errant bin. So after giving all details about location and the like, we were told by a council officer that it would take one to two weeks for a new bin to be replaced. But your truck driver put our bin in the truck! How is that our fault and now we have to wait two weeks for another bin? The officer's response - "now can I help you with anything else?" Seriously?

STEVE Barnett spells out COVID-19 common sense, (Short Takes, 22/12). Just like Trump-like bluster won't give, say, the lift and thrust for flight, the virus rules have to be worked with. It doesn't take holidays or breaks. It's itching, and mutating, to rip through everyone at the drop of a hat. Don't let your guard down. Stick hard to the anti-contagion bag of tricks. Not foolproof, but the best. That includes masks.

IT seems Tommy Diamond (Letters, 21/12) is fond of using facts and figures yet he provides absolutely none to support his anti-union bias that unskilled workers are overpaid. Despite having had two opportunities to do so.

IN regard to safety issues at Liddell power station ('Liddell employee: 'I'm lucky'', Newcastle Herald 21/12) I would say these issues are related to actions taken over ten years ago when the life of the station was given a use by date. So the operators would have taken appropriate action to cut back on regular maintenance because it was envisaged it would close down by a certain date. Good business sense at the time. But then the powers that be decided to extend its life by band aid solutions because climate change zealots could not come up with an economic solution as opposed to coal fired power stations. I would suggest that regular and proper maintenance and upgrading of Liddell would have resulted in a much safer environment for the workers at this power station. The sooner we realise that coal still has a major role to play in our power generation, the better.

THE thing that most surprised me about all the countries currently banning travel from the UK ('Is the mutant virus a threat to humans?', Herald 23/12) was the fact that more than 40 countries were available to travel to in the first place. Are these people from another planet, or is it just they won't listen to their health people?