It hasn’t stopped him unveiling a plan to ensure the Newcastle Jets will have no option but to bring the fixture here – should the opportunity arise.

The first step requires the A-League club to progress past Gold Coast Knights on the Gold Coast on August 7.

Step two is the Jets then being drawn in a home fixture for the following round.

The third step requires an upgrade to the lighting at Regional Stadium before the fourth and final step requires FMNC to find the finances to ensure it could happen.

Such an upgrade of the lighting is believed to be a one-off figure of up to $15,000 for the fixture.

“We will need additional light towers to meet the minimum lux quality (of 500),” Parsons said.

“We would have to import those lights from Sydney which would cost us between $12,000 and $15,000 to do.

“That money would come from our coffers, but we would have to be diligent and see if it would be of benefit to our stakeholders as well.”

The Jets friendly fixture in Port Macquarie on July 17 almost didn’t go ahead with Football Federation Australia citing concerns about lighting.

It highlighted the need for a state-of-the-art sporting facility in Port Macquarie with FFA chiefs only giving the match the green light at 2pm last Monday afternoon.

It was a little over 24 hours before the scheduled 7.30pm kick-off the following night with FFA bosses raising concerns about the lack of light available.

They even suggested moving the fixture to another venue.

“It highlights the absolute disconnect between the hierarchy and grassroots, but it also highlights the urgent need for a home of football locally,” Parsons said.

“Even to get the FFA Cup match here we’d need to negotiate with the Port Sharks and Port City Breakers all the logistics and whether we could use the stadium.”

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council would also need to play their role in attracting a potential fixture.

“Council did an incredible job last time with the playing surface, but Kerry Lewis and the staff would need to go a step further than that,” Parsons said.

“There’s a lot of water to flow under the bridge yet, but it’s good to have a plan to put in place.”

Long-term, an upgrade of the lighting at Regional Stadium would cost up to $500,000.

“We couldn’t use the existing light towers,” Parsons said.

Jets chief executive Lawrie McKinna stated last week the club would have no hesitation in bringing a fixture to Port Macquarie if the opportunity arose.

“If we played an FFA Cup game up there, you’d be looking at 5000 people upwards mid-week but to get that game, we need to get the lights upgraded,” McKinna said.

“We’d have no hesitation in bringing a game up there if the lights were up to the required standard.”