The 2009/10 season was quite eventful and hopefully enjoyable for all involved. The season had a slightly unusual start with a few changes following an EGM in September. I took over as Chairman and Roger Christmas moved aside to take the role of Vice Chairman. Malcolm Fisher moved into the role of secretary, taking over from Julian Clay who stepped into the treasurer’s role. Matt de Bruxelles joined the committee and Will Ivey stepped in as Fixtures Secretary. I was very pleased to boast an enthusiastic and capable committee.
There was a further change not long after when Julian Clay left the club. I’m grateful for Roger stepping into the role of Treasurer on an interim basis.
One of the first things the committee did was set objectives for the next 5 years. I’m confident that we have achieved the club objectives throughout the year and have made good progress on each of the team objectives. I’m also confident that we will continue to work towards the other objectives.
From a team perspective, the 1st XI excelled, gaining promotion to Mid Sussex Prem and winning the Mowatt Cup. A very pleasing, if not tense conclusion to the season.
The reserve XI had a very slow start to the season and definitely improved as the season went on. The final few games saw 7 wins from 7 gives and considerable cause for optimism next season.
The Colts continued to improve and progress and it was pleasing to see them in mid-table. Their form was erratic, but again, they showed very positive signs towards the end of the season.
Brian, Jimmy, Roy and Mick all put in a considerable amount of effort and I’m grateful to them all.
After interviewing candidates for the role of colts manager for the forthcoming season a decision was taken to offer the role to Dan McCaffrey in place of Mick Barnes. It was a very difficult decision and one that was not taken lightly. The view was that Dan would be better able to service the desire for sustainability and progression within the club, in line with the club objective. I would like to give special thanks to Mick who did a good job in the role and put in a significant amount of effort, both running the colts and in organizing training.
In line with our goal of ensuring continuity and sustainable football we put a lot of effort into the relationship with Cuckfield Cosmos. Thanks to Dan McCaffrey and his coaching team for cementing the relationship. Hopefully the effort will result in some good new signings.
On the social side, the season has been the best I have been involved in for a long time. We had 3 social events. The quiz night and end of season do were both targeted at players and friends and were excellent. The Race Night was aimed at the wider community. I think we achieved our goal of raising our profile and we managed to raise £1,500 for Court Meadow School in the process. Special thanks to Matt de Bruxelles for his excellent work on all three.
From a financial perspective, we have focused on running the club in a fair way and reducing our debtors via the direct debit scheme. This seems to be a continued success. We have retained a healthy bank balance and continue to have a good steady income, but this is required in line with our increased training costs. The running costs were circa £11,500.
Finally, I would like to thank all committee members and team managers for their hard work and hope that everyone is looking forward to another successful season next year.
Nolan Mortimer
Chairman CTFC |
