With 24-25 ALW now on his mind, Campbell hopeful of an imminent Jets sale

Unconfirmed reports the club had been sold weren't how Ryan Campbell wanted Newcastle to prepare for their ALW semifinal against City but, with their season now ended, he's hoping for good news soon.

Interim Newcastle Jets A-League Women boss Ryan Campbell admits a sequence of events that saw reports emerge the club had finally been sold, only for his squad to be told that wasn’t yet confirmed, provided a less-than-ideal backdrop to his side’s preparations for the second-leg of their semifinal with Melbourne City, a 3-0 defeat that made it 6-0 on aggregate. But with his offseason now looming, he’s hopeful that good, confirmed, news will soon allow the club to dive into planning for next season.

Needing to erase a three-goal deficit carried over from the first leg in at the Maitland Sports Ground, the Jets went for broke straight from the opening kickoff in the return leg at AAMI Park on Sunday: starting Sarina Bolden and Melina Ayres alongside each other and creating a tide of early chances. But somehow, however, they couldn’t find a way to put one of their innumerate efforts into the City goal — one madcap sequence seeing Lauren Allen hit the bar, Ayres have a follow-up header cleared off the line by Rebekah Stott, and Bolden send a third attempt into the breadbasket of City keeper Barbara. A backbreaking retort then arrived in the 26th minute when Daniela Galic teed up Rhianna Pollicina to fire home and put the hosts up 4-0 on aggregate. 

More chances followed but things just wouldn’t fall for the Jets in their attempts to rally. Perhaps it was the footballing gods smiling on their foes, or the slightly nerdier gods of expected goals (xG) exacting vengeance upon them for so vastly overperforming their figures during the regular season. Whatever the case, two goals in three minutes from City – Hannah Wilkinson in the 67th minute and Leticia McKenna in the 70th – served to put the game to bed as the hosts teed off amid a much-improved second half — Dario Vidošić’s side booking their place in a first grand final since 2020. 

It ended a Jets season that had begun with little fanfare or expectation but exploded into something so much more; the arrival of Bolden in late November and a sage four-game cameo from Emily van Egmond helping to propel the club upward and, despite the January departure of Gary van Egmond and his replacement with Campbell, into the finals. Reinforcing the fortitude of the squad, this occurred against the backdrop of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future of the club as it continued its long search for new owners – uncertainty that turned existential last month when league administrators flagged that it would not be able to step in and fund the Jets should the collective of rival A-League club owners propping the club up withdraw their support. 

Reports had emerged during the build-up to the Jets’ men’s side’s F3 Derby against Central Coast on Saturday that the longstanding saga surrounding was finally coming to an end and that an agreement to sell the club’s licence had been reached – but Campbell said it wasn’t that simple.  

“It probably wasn't the greatest timing for us, to have that thing come out yesterday that the Jets have been sold,” he said. “Because for some of those girls, they're going 'how come we don't know?' and things like that. And we've been assured that it's not confirmed as yet, that everything's happened. 

“So we're just we're just waiting to find out the same as everybody else, exactly where things are at. So probably wasn't the best timing for us to hear that this club has been sold and then there are no guarantees, either. 

“The girls have been really great at [trying to put that out of their minds]. It's probably going to be something now that when we finish training and playing, that will become more of something that the girls will start to think about. We want to sign contracts and opposition teams will also be looking at some of the players that have done well for us to get us to the semifinals.”

Trailing only Michelle Heyman on the goalscoring charts and leading the league in assists, Bolden represents the most obvious re-signing priority for the Jets heading into the offseason. 

But as was the case for Canberra United in recent months, the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the club has hampered attempts by the Jets to begin to put into place the bones of a squad for 2024-25 – even if the men’s side have announced some recent re-signings such as Clayton Taylor and Mark Natta.

 “We would love to keep as much of the team together as possible,” said Campbell. “Hopefully, there's some good news coming. There have been some rumours going around about the club. 

“Hopefully, we can get some good news and then we can really start to lock down some of these players, and some of the young players that we have at our club, for longer-term things and we can really start to build going forward into next season and even beyond there as well. 

“It's exciting with the young players we have and the quality players we have, we've just got to hopefully just get them locked down.”

Campbell himself isn’t contracted as the Jets ALW boss for next season but does retain some level of security as the head of the Emerging Jets girls’ program. Needless to say, though, if the opportunity arose, he’d be eager to build on this season. 

“I've been waiting on what's going on with the club and the owners of the club -- [the owners of the] other clubs -- haven't been keen on signing contracts and putting people on things when they're not sure what's going to go on. 

“Hopefully things will get sorted soon and then I can start to have some conversations about what's going on from a coaching position as well. 

“I'd love to take the position. I've really enjoyed working with these players. And I know the girls have enjoyed it as well. We've also had some good results, which has helped. So yeah, I'd love to take the position and I'll just leave that in the decisions of the powers that be, whoever that is.”