Bonus would not have saved Jets

THE NEWCASTLE HERALD

By Robert Dillon

NEWCASTLE Jets chief executive John Tsatsimas says a proposed salary-cap exemption for an under-23 marquee player would not necessarily have helped the club retain either Mark Bridge or Stuart Musialik.

Bridge and Musialik played their last games for Newcastle in the 1-0 grand final triumph against Central Coast on February 28 and have since signed with Sydney FC.

Jets officials were hamstrung in their efforts to retain the two Olyroos because owner Con Constantine refused to use third-party service agreements, which do not count under the salary cap.

But now Football Federation Australia is reportedly poised to announce a new dispensation that will allow A-League clubs to pay an Olyroos player up to $150,000 a year outside of the cap.

The new concept is set to be introduced for the coming A-League season, but Tsatsmias denied yesterday that the Jets had been disadvantaged by not having the additional funds available during negotiations with Bridge and Musialik.

"We put very favourable offers to both of them in June 2007, and those offers wouldn't have been any higher if this mechanism had been in place," Tsatsimas said. "We were very, very excited about the offers we put to them.

"Obviously things didn't pan out the way we hoped . . . but their offers were already favourable. They wouldn't have been increased. The offers that were made were nearly double what they were on anyway."

It is understood the Jets initially offered both Bridge and Musialik three-year deals worth about $130,000 a season.

But the club baulked at agreeing to include "ceiling clauses" in their contracts, by which Newcastle would have received a set transfer fee instead of a negotiated amount if the pair were released overseas.

Tsatsimas said the Jets would nonetheless welcome some extra room to move outside the salary cap, especially since they already had Olyroos Tarek Elrich, Adam D'Apuzzo and James Holland on their books.

Newcastle also hope to sign another Olyroo in Sydney midfielder Ruben Zadkovich.

"This mechanism now will apply to our other Olyroos," Tsatsimas said. "You might get your best player in that category and be able to pay him outside the cap.

"In turn, that will help free up money for other players and maybe help you sign up another player."

Meanwhile, Tsatsimas said the Jets had not been approached by Japanese club Avispa Fukuoka about the possibility of releasing star striker Joel Griffiths on a full-time basis.

Griffiths is on loan with the J-League division-two club and has scored two goals in four games, sparking rumours that he may receive an offer too good to refuse.

"We've had nothing formal as yet," Tsatsimas said.

"There are stories that they will be looking to table something shortly, so we're just waiting to see if that happens.

"He's our best player and was the A-League player of the year, and he has a year to run on his contract . . . Obviously you always have to take the player's wishes into account, but at this point we haven't even been approached."

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