In the heady hours after the 2008 title decider, Jets coach Gary van Egmond spoke of his desire to build a dynasty and establish Newcastle as the A-League's pre-eminent club.
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Owner Con Constantine joined in making the bold suggestion, that the man known as "Dutchy" could become the A-League equivalent of Manchester United's Alex Ferguson, provided he didn't get appointed as coach of the Socceroos.
Within 16 months, van Egmond had departed, and so too had the majority of the championship-winning squad.
A year after raising the "toilet seat" for beating the Mariners in the grand final, the Jets had the ignominy of collecting the wooden spoon.
The embarrassment was partly erased when a new-look outfit progressed to the final 16 of the Asian Champions League.
Van Egmond entered the campaign with grand plans and was confident that the youthful Jets outfit had not fulfilled their potential despite being crowned champions.
"Hopefully we can keep the nucleus of this team together for a number of years," he said.
"On average age we're the youngest team in the league, and that bodes well for a number of years to come. It's just a matter of keeping these players . . . our buying and selling this year wasn't great with regard to our overseas contingent, but our youth development is fantastic."
In truth, the Jets had already begun to unravel.
Grand final heroes Mark Bridge, Stuart Musialik and Andrew Durante signed with rival clubs within a week of Newcastle soccer's greatest moment.
Jade North and James Holland exited midway through a disastrous title defence to join clubs overseas.
They were followed out the back door at season's end by Joel Griffiths, twin brother Adam and keeper Ante Covic.
There were high hopes for marquee striker Edmundo Zura, who arrived in the prime of his career and with six full caps for Ecuador to his credit.
The imposing front man was synonymous in Ecuador for his post-goal celebrations where he puts on a blue and white WWE- inspired mask and runs around the pitch like a madman.
"Mask aside, he looks a quality player," van Egmond said. "He is a big boy, mobile, a good age and still very ambitious. He looks to be the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Someone who can put the ball in the back of the net."
Jets faithful didn't get a chance to see Zura's theatrics as he left homesick and goalless after nine rounds.
Fringe Danish international Jesper Hakansson also failed to flatter and jetted out.
The Jets were behind the eight-ball from the start. They opened the season with back-to-back draws before a 5-0 thumping at the hands of Melbourne Victory. A rare bright spot was the debut of Ben Kantarovski at age 16 in round one.
Griffiths hit the target in a 1-0 win over the Roar in round five but it wasn't the kick-start to the season so desperately needed.
The Jets had to wait until round nine for some reinforcement, which came in the shape of fringe Socceroo Mark Milligan, who returned to Australia after coming up empty in his quest to land an overseas contract
Griffiths' frustration boiled over in round 12 and he was given a straight red card for lashing out at Phoenix defender Karl Dodd in a 2-0 loss in Wellington.
In total the Jets blooded 11 teenagers, eight of whom made their A-League debuts.
Among them was James Virgili who, at 16 years and 180 days of age, replaced Kantarovski as the youngest player in the A-League.
The Jets won just four games for the campaign and finished on a paltry 18 points. Kantarovski was the player of the year.
"You never want to lose and you certainly never want to finish with the wooden spoon,'' van Egmond said. "If you look at our season objectively, it tells a tale. Lack of quality in the final third, players who have not done as well as we thought they would, injuries, suspensions, people going overseas, national team commitments ... it sums up our season.''
Five days after Con Constantine insisted that Griffiths wasn't going anywhere, the owner confirmed the poster boy was headed to Beijing Guoan on a loan deal until December.
In the end, player power won. Griffiths signed a deal worth $700,000 net, nearly triple what he would earn for the Jets, for his 11-month stay in Beijing.
"Like it or not, in Australia we cannot pay the dollars they can in Asia," Constantine lamented.
Van Egmond oversaw a crash-course rebuilding operation, including an influx of new players, in readiness for the Asian Champions League.
Foreign imports Donny de Groot (Holland) and Fabio Vignaroli (Italy) were brought in to provide a cutting edge up front, along with Sasho Petrovski from arch rivals Central Coast.
Experienced duo Ljubo Milicevic and Nikolai Topor-Stanley bolstered the defence.
Milicevic had left Melbourne Victory in acrimonious circumstances, reportedly after falling out with coach Ernie Merrick and captain Kevin Muscat.
And it did not take long for the enigmatic defender to polarise his new teammates and coaching staff.
The issue came to a head in March when Milicevic told van Egmond to "f - - - off" during a training session and stormed off the pitch.
After a few days in Melbourne, he returned and had a blunt message for his teammates, "To quote a famous Australian philosopher Mark Chopper Read, some of the boys need to 'harden the f - - - up'."
He also said: "Certain members of the squad are not pulling their weight and the team is not going to get better until they start being honest with themselves. Last year, these guys finished last. There is a reason for that."
The fans loved him. On the pitch, Milicevic was equally ferocious, adding steel, experience and belief as the Jets defied the critics to progress to the knockout stages.
