Maccagnan out as Jet GM as Gase grabs full control

Ladies and gentlemen, dig up the bearded ladies, face painters, contortionists and trained elephants. Set up the custard pie stands under twinkling lights. Oh, and don’t forget the clown car.

There’s a new (old) circus in town.

The Jets morphed back into a familiar laughingstock Wednesday by inexplicably firing Mike Maccagnan less than three weeks after Chairman and CEO Christopher Johnson privately — and explicitly — told people on One Jets Drive that reports of the general manager’s impending ouster were pure fiction, according to sources.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Johnson is disingenuous, reactionary, erratic or just plain clueless. Take your pick.

Johnson delivered the pink slip, but he’s not the only one with fingerprints all over this disjointed mess. Adam Gase’s cojones should be sent to Canton via Fed-Ex for the coup that he just pulled off. (More on that later).

Regardless, the acting owner’s choice to pull the plug after Maccagnan headed a coaching search, spent more than $120 million in free agency and oversaw a draft that included the No. 3 pick was the latest example that perhaps the Jets are what so many have always believed them to be: A lost, dysfunctional outfit unable to get out of its own way.

Although a fair case could have been made to relieve Maccagnan of his duties when Todd Bowles was fired after the season, the timing of this move reeks of amateurism. Vice president of player personnel Brian Heimerdinger, who has been credited for orchestrating the trade last year to position the Jets to draft Sam Darnold, was collateral damage.

Gase will act as the interim general manager until Johnson (and presumably Gase) will hire Maccagnan’s replacement. Gase’s preferred choice is Eagles vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas, who worked with Gase in Chicago for one year, according to sources.

“I think he’s terrific at his job,” Johnson said about Maccagnan in March. “He has a plan that I believe in. It’s really key that he’s working well with Adam.”

It’ll be difficult to take anything Johnson says seriously moving forward.

Johnson also heaped praise on big free-agent signings Le’Veon Bell and C.J. Mosley, while leaving out one detail: Gase absolutely made it clear he didn’t want Bell, according to sources. The head coach left no doubt that he didn’t want to spend a lot of money on any running back or center.

Johnson might be well intentioned, but this decision is an indictment on his ability to successfully operate this franchise. His inexperience is glaring.

Consider: He gave Maccagnan and Todd Bowles extensions in December 2017 through 2020 only to fire his head coach one year later and the general manager 17 months later.

Although firing a general manager after the draft isn’t unprecedented, this was a nonsensical decision by Johnson for myriad reasons.

How many owners would give their GM autonomy to run a head coaching search only to fire him before that head coach ran his first practice, let alone play in a single game?

How many owners would allow their GM to spend a mountain of money in free agency, go out of his way to praise those signings and then whack him?

How many owners would allow their GM to run an entire draft that included the third overall pick and then show him the guillotine?

What could Johnson have possibly unearthed in the past few months that he didn’t already know about Maccagnan in the past two seasons?

It’s fair to question Maccagnan’s draft and free agency record. It also makes sense to delve deeper into how Maccagnan worked with others in the building. But this is all information that Johnson needed to collect over the past two years.

Johnson didn’t arrive at this decision alone. Gase, who feigned outraged last week at the thought of a rift with Maccagnan, played this perfectly for himself. He wanted control all along.

Strip away the team propaganda and B.S. and here’s what left: Johnson chose Gase over Maccagnan. He sided with a man he’s known for four months.

So much is riding on this decision. Sam Darnold’s future. Johnson’s legacy.

Time will reveal whether Christopher Johnson set the franchise on the right path with this decision. Right now, one thing is abundantly clear: Gang Green has surpassed the Giants and Knicks as the biggest joke in town. Now all Johnson needs to do is order some balloons and cotton candy to One Jets Drive.