Newcastle Jets

Early years

Newcastle United was formed in 2000 by Cypriot-Australian businessman Con Constantine from the remnants of the Newcastle Breakers. The Breakers were dissolved when Soccer Australia revoked its NSL license at the conclusion of the 1999–2000 season. After the formation of Newcastle United, the home ground was moved back to McDonald Jones Stadium.

Newcastle United competed in the NSL Final Series of 2001-02 and 2002-03 and finished second in the League behind Perth Glory in the 2001–02 NSL season.

The club renamed itself to the Newcastle United Jets Football Club and launched a new badge at the start of the new national league, the A-League. This was done in an attempt to project a new image of the club and avoid confusion with the English club Newcastle United. The name "Jets" is a reference to RAAF Base Williamtown, located just 20 kilometres north of Newcastle. The club's logo depicts three F/A-18 Hornets, which the Royal Australian Air Force has based in Williamtown.

Former England and Australia manager Terry Venables was reported as the favourite to become the team's technical director, including reports from the Jets, but declined the role. Instead, the club signed Richard Money for the 2005–2006 season. In 2006, Money was replaced with Nick Theodorakopoulos after Money returned to England to take the manager's job at Walsall. In October 2006, after recording no wins during the Pre-Season Cup and the first seven rounds of A-League matches, Theodorakopoulos became the first coach to be sacked in the club's A-League history. His assistant Gary van Egmond was the caretaker coach for the remainder of the 2005–06 season, and later signed a contract to remain as the coach of the Jets for the next three years.

The club surprised many observers in the Australian game by signing Ned Zelic, the second big name signing of the inaugural A-League, signing a two year contract as the clubs marquee player and the Jets inaugural club captain.

The Jets attempted to bring former Liverpool and England striker Stan Collymore out of retirement for a four-match guest stint; however, the move broke down within 24 hours of it being made public.

With the leadership of Gary van Egmond, crowds in Newcastle reached all time highs, culminating in a crowd of over 24,000 for their home final against Sydney FC on 2 February 2007.

Newcastle were eliminated in penalties in the preliminary final by Adelaide. Vaughan Coveny and Stuart Musialik missed their attempts in a shoot-out that ended up at 4–3 in favour of Adelaide, costing Newcastle their place in the grand final and a berth in the Asian Champions League.

Champions of Australia (2008)

Season 3 of the A-League saw a number of Newcastle's biggest stars of the previous season leave the club. Captain Paul Okon retired, fan favourite Milton Rodriguez returned to Colombia and Johnny Warren Medal winner Nick Carle moved to Turkey to join with Gençlerbirliği S.K. New recruits included Joel Griffiths' twin brother Adam and previous European Golden Boot winner Mario Jardel. Throughout the season, star striker Joel Griffiths broke the record for most goals in a regular season by scoring 12 in 21 rounds.

The Jets started the season 5-0 but struggled for consistency until the end of the season. Wins in the last three competition rounds saw the Jets move up the ladder to equal points with the Central Coast Mariners, finishing the season in second place due to inferior goal difference. The Jets went on to play the Mariners in the two legged Major Semi Final. The Jets won the first leg at home 2–0 thanks to a first-half header from Adam Griffiths and a late penalty from his brother Joel. The game was controversial as Mariners striker John Aloisi had a seemingly legitimate goal disallowed and also missed a penalty. Steeled by the defeat in the first leg, the Mariners overturned the 2–0 deficit and won to advance to their second Grand Final in three years.

The Jets qualified for their first A-League Grand Final by beating the Queensland Roar 3–2 in the 2008 Preliminary Final on 17 February 2008.

The Jets defeated the Central Coast Mariners in the 2007–08 A-League Grand Final, in front of 36,354 fans, becoming A-League Champions for the first time.

The game was sealed with a solitary Mark Bridge strike in the 63rd minute after an error from Tony Vidmar. The game was marred by a late penalty appeal for a handball. Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic had come up for the corner and was so infuriated by referee Mark Shield's decision that he slapped his hand away, earning a lengthy ban and ruling himself out of the early rounds of the next season. Both the Jets and Mariners qualified to take part in the 2009 AFC Champions League.

After the departure of high performance manager Ian Crook, the Jets signed former Sydney FC boss Branko Culina as their new Technical Director.

After the success of the 2007–08 season, a number of Jets players left the club, including Mark Bridge and Stuart Musialik to Sydney FC and Joe Marston Medal winner Andrew Durante and Troy Hearfield to Wellington Phoenix. Although rumours persisted about captain Jade North and Adam Griffiths wishing to leave the club after being a part of the Socceroos squad that faced Singapore and China, both chose to remain with the Jets for the 2008–09 season. The regular season proved to be a disaster for the Jets. The team won only four out of twenty-one matches and were rooted to the bottom of the ladder, missing the finals for the first time, and collecting their first wooden spoon.