NFL

Jets owner won’t say whether he will sue fans who default on payments

Jets owner Woody Johnson knows the fans of his team are an angry lot right now. After a 6-10 season and a second straight year of no playoffs, he understands that people who have spent thousands of dollars on tickets and PSLs are unhappy.

“Our fans are very passionate and they feel very strongly,” Johnson said. “They’re going to lash out and express their feelings. I don’t blame them, quite frankly.

“It would be a lot worse if they were more apathetic and they said, ‘oh, I don’t really care about this.’ They do care and we want them to care. I listen to them. I talk to them. We work for the fans. We want to produce something better and that’s why we’re making these changes. We’re listening to the fans.”

The Post reported Monday that many fans are considering defaulting on their PSL payments, believing the Jets won’t want to absorb the P.R. hit of taking them to court to force them to pay. Johnson would not address whether he would take legal action against fans who refused to pay.

“I’m not going to comment,” Johnson said. “You can talk to the legal department on that. We work for our fans. They’re frustrated and I feel very confident we’re going to change this thing.”

* Johnson did not offer many specifics on why he decided to fire general manager Mike Tannenbaum.

“I felt that we had to go in a different direction to improve this team and get us to where we want to be,” Johnson said. “I’m never going to say anything negative about Mike because, quite frankly, the positives outweigh the negatives in all respects. But I did feel it was time to make a change and I made that change.”

Tannenbaum had been with the Jets during Johnson’s entire time as owner. Tannenbaum hired coach Rex Ryan and spent the last four years working with him.

“We made a ton of decisions together,” Ryan said. “They were always Jets decisions. Not all of them were right, obviously, but I know the intent was. I certainly appreciate him for all that he did and how much help he was to me for the four years that we were together. I think we’ll be friends for a lifetime.”

Johnson said he believes the moves the Jets are making will change things in 2013.

“We failed this year,” he said. “We’re not happy. We’re making changes to correct that. I feel confident that these changes will have a meaningful impact on both personnel and coaching.”

* The Jets took some heat in the media for delaying their season-ending press conference until nine days after the season. It was technically a violation of the NFL’s media policy, which requires teams to make a team official available in the week after the season ends.

Johnson acknowledged the team made a mistake.

“I want to make whether it’s an apology … I’ve read your statements regarding the delay and [Ryan] isn’t responsible for this,” Johnson said. “I wanted him to wait until I had a chance to think a little bit more about the season and Mike Tannenbaum and the changes we’re making. I probably should have gotten back to you earlier. I think the fans wanted to know and the fans deserved to know. Your comments regarding the delay are valid.”