I warned a couple of months back this was where we were headed, that those propping the club up would bail as soon as Newcastle's presence was no longer vital to the competition's TV deal.

And with Auckland in place, that time may have arrived. Can you blame them?

We've had three years to do something about it (management, that is), and come up with nought. Now it's time for the late, rallying call to save the day. Lots of salient chat, platitudes to days gone by, but no plan as far as we on the sideline can see.

So where do we go from here? Whatever the answer is, the Jets are going to need strong financial support. They are also going to have an earnest look at their expenditure and attitude.

By that, I mean think about an alternative to McDonald Jones Stadium, which is ultra-expensive at the best of times, and allows other events that affect the quality of the playing surface with scant regard for a regular tenant.

The other thing that would help their cause would be to find a little more humility when dealing with other people involved in the code, but outside their bunker.

They do not have a monopoly on football knowledge, on management procedure, on how to treat people with a slightly different point of view, and the sooner they recognise that, the more people they might have onside.

I think they bring more to the league than, say, Western United and MacArthur, but if you discount the grand final season of 2018, what have the Jets really contributed on field in the past decade?

Don't worry, there is a train of thought among the suits that the league would be better off without the Jets. There have been even suggestions of a relocation to the Gold Coast.

Like you I'm hoping all ends well. I'd start by relocating, with some assistance from council, to No.2 Sportsground, building a temporary grandstand, enjoying the extra atmosphere of 6000 or 7000 fans in an enclosed arena, and maybe even some revenue from food outlets.

I suppose the APL would oppose that on aesthetic terms.

And I'd sort out an academy that has never had more money thrown at it than in the past 15 years, and has produced only Archie Goodwin and Angus Thurgate, who learnt his football on the mid-North Coast.

The authoritarian, insular, one-dimensional approach, the complete refusal to engage former national league level players / coaches in the program, has proved to be disastrous.

You don't necessarily have to have played at a high level to be a good coach, but it sure helps.

That record should have resulted long ago in a change in personnel, and approach in any other industry.

It may change with a new leader now.

Then again, it may not exist in a month.

We wait with fingers crossed again.