ANXIOUS Newcastle Jets fans have been implored not to panic by director of football Remo Nogarotto, who is putting the finishing touches to a recruiting campaign he believes will keep the champions competitive at home and abroad.
This week's departure of promising young midfielder Troy Hearfield to Wellington Phoenix continued a post-season exodus in which Mark Bridge, Stuart Musialik (Sydney FC) and Andrew Durante (also Wellington) have left the club. There is also doubt surrounding Adam Griffiths, who has a clause allowing him to return to Europe if he receives an offer by the end of this month. Skipper Jade North and top scorer Joel Griffiths have also talked recently about their desire to join overseas clubs but both are likely to be held to the remaining year of their contracts.
It adds up to an unsettled atmosphere, but Nogarotto has assured supporters the Jets will make a good fist of defending their A-League crown and be competitive when they debut in the new-look Asian Champions League next year. Speaking from Rome, where he will be joined at the end of next week on a scouting mission by coach Gary van Egmond, Nogarotto said: "Obviously, it's disappointing a few players have chosen to leave, but I respect their right to seek more lucrative pastures.
"The important thing is we move, and we move quickly, to replace them, and that's what we're doing. If you think about this time last year, we were in the same boat when we lost some key players, and the difference is we're a lot further down the planning process. Last year we left it late, this year we're confident we'll have the entire squad together when we start pre-season in June. There'll be no more relying on DVDs, we've learnt our lessons and we're doing our homework properly.
"As Mark Twain said, the announcement of our death is grossly exaggerated. People wrote us off last season, and they'll be writing us off now. I would just say to our fans, don't panic."
Newcastle are poised to sign former Sydney FC utility Ruben Zadkovich and a holding midfielder from another A-League club described by Nogarotto as "very promising", while former Socceroos defender Adrian Madaschi, who has been playing in the Italian lower leagues for almost a decade, is also on the radar. The Jets haven't been frightened off by their failures in the overseas transfer market last year, and two high-grade imports - both attacking players - are in their sights. One foreigner will replace Mario Jardel as the Jets marquee signing.
"We've looking at a couple of options, one here [Italy] is particularly interesting. He might not have the CV of some other players but he's got the runs on the board and I've got no doubt he'll add a lot to our squad," Nogarotto said.
Nogarotto and van Egmond will spend the rest of this month scouting in Italy and Switzerland, while the Jets coach will also spend three days with the coaching staff of AS Roma after they return from next week's trip to England to play Manchester United in the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
