The 2010/11 season was a great success. It’s useful to look back on the objectives that the committee set at the end of 2009 so you can put our achievements into perspective. If you want to look at them, you can find them here, but I will also run through them.
As a club, we wanted to make sure we were meritocratic. In football terminology that would be “What I’ve done is, I’ve started in the Colts team, played my heart out, did good and then the gaffer of the Reserves gave me the nod. I did alright for him and at the end of the day I got a shout from the top”. From my perspective, players did get picked on merit and progressed on merit.
The structure and foundations of the club remain strong and that is solely due to the hard work of the committee. I can’t stress enough how much hard work they all put in. I know everyone is really grateful to them for that, especially me. Special thanks go to the Fisher family. Five of them were involved in the season somewhere along the way, with Julie and Malcolm being fantastic in their roles as treasurer and secretary.
I would like to thank everyone who has put in so much effort and commitment, including the team managers and the committee.
The club remains on a sound financial footing and throughout the season we were pro-active in the way we chased debts. We continue to take the view that it’s only fair to those who do pay on time, that those who default are ineligible until they settle any debt.
Another important objective, which have a focus on is; to maintain a fun environment. There’s no question that we have that, the attendance at the pub after games and at social events proves it. The season also saw the inaugural CTFC Tour, a successful jaunt toAmsterdam. Rumour has it thatAntwerpis the destination for next year.
One of our most important club objectives is to maintain and promote the development of our young players. In my view, we have done that really well. That segues nicely onto the brief review of performances of the teams this year.
Colts
Dan McCaffrey took control of a talented bunch of youngsters at the beginning of the season, many of whom graduated from Cuckfield Cosmos. With a lot of application, some skilled training and because they were the best, they won MSFL Div 8 quite easily. They thoroughly deserved it and I’m very proud of their achievement. Well done!
Reserves
It was a mixed season for Jimmy and Roy. Because of the number of changes in the 1st team, they were disrupted throughout and I don’t think they fielded the same team twice. Their objective is to be playing in MSFL Div 3 within the next 2 years, but I’m confident that if they can carry the end of season form forward, they will do it. They will also have the benefit of more young players coming through because of our strong links with Cosmos.
First Team
There were lots of changes in the first team, with the three top scorers and other key players from the previous season no longer available for various reasons. The goal at the start of the season was to consolidate and stay in the MSFL Premier division and we did just that. Brian developed enormously as a manager and takes a significant amount of credit for keeping the team up due to his understanding of the players and the game. There were also some good young players who developed and will hopefully stay with us for years to come.
Any club is only as good as its members, so everyone who has been involved this year should be proud of what we’ve done and how we did it. There are some exciting opportunities in the next 12 months and we want to keep developing the club further. I’m hopeful that I will be reviewing another great season on and off the pitch in 12 months time, but I would like to thank everyone involved once again for their hard work, on and off the pitch.
Nolan Mortimer
Chairman CTFC |
