A-LEAGUE chief executive Lyall Gorman said last night the future of the Newcastle Jets was "a week-by-week situation" and there was no guarantee they would survive the season.
Football Federation Australia has provided an assurance that Sunday's round-five match between the Jets and Brisbane Roar at EnergyAustralia Stadium would proceed, but Gorman said after that Newcastle's involvement in the national competition was uncertain.
"The immediate focus is on identifying the challenges at hand, working with the club to find solutions and getting past this weekend," he said.
"And overlaying that, of course, will always be player welfare . . .
"If you're asking me with regards to the rest of the season, I can't give you a guarantee of that tonight."
Jets players and staff were not paid last week after club owner Con Constantine cited financial hardship, and it appears unlikely they will receive their wages today unless the club secures an 11th-hour rescue package.
Players have adopted a business-as-usual approach to Sunday's match but it is understood they have given the powers-that-be until Monday to reach a resolution.
Gorman said FFA number-crunchers had been working exhausting hours all week trying to analyse the situation and liaising with Jets management.
But he was candid about the prospect of reaching a favourable outcome by Monday's deadline.
Asked if he could guarantee Newcastle's round-six match against Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium on September 11 would proceed, he replied, "I can't look that far ahead at the moment.
"We've honestly got to finish this commitment we've made to this game to understand the challenge at hand, to see what strategies we can assist with to help the club work through the problems. Really, we are in a week-by-week situation until we can get a clearer picture."
When The Newcastle Herald raised the possibility of Sunday's match being the last for Newcastle, Gorman replied, "I'm not going to say that.
"I don't want to say that sort of thing at all.
"Is that the desire of anyone? No.
"But we've just got to pragmatically get through everything a week at a time at the moment and see what the situation is."
FFA has taken over or supported several other financially embattled A-League franchises but Gorman said such decisions had not been made at short notice.
"The same depth of research and analysis and so on went in to every club before those decisions were made," he said.
"Nothing historically done by the FFA was done at a whim or spontaneously.
"It was an outcome of continued working with the clubs to identify the true problems.
"It's not fair to compare and say other clubs haven't been through the same process."
Jets chief executive John Tsatsimas said at a press conference yesterday that he and Constantine were "moving through the issues at hand . . . things are looking favourable and encouraging".
But he was non-committal about the prospect of players and staff being paid today.
"I think long-term we'll be fine, it's just a short-term issue, as we've already said during the course of thr week," he said.
"But having said that, it is an issue. And when you've got people's livelihoods in your hands, it is certainly of great concern. Hopefully there'll be a resolution to that and we can move forward."
Professional Footballers Association chief executive Brendan Schwab said he had been in daily contact with Newcastle players and "we're hopeful of getting some form of resolution on Monday".
Asked what would be the next step if the impasse could not be resolved by Monday, Schwab replied, "We'll come to that hurdle if we need to.
"The players will certainly act collectively and in the best interests of the game."
Schwab said players from other A-League clubs "feel strongly about the security of their fellow professionals" and the Jets "should definitely not feel that they are on their own".
Gorman urged Novocastrians to rally behind their team on Sunday.
"There is no time like now that the club needs their support. A show of strength on Sunday at the home game would be a tremendous outcome."
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