REPORT FOR SEASON 2017/18
The club made some big decisions for the 2017/18 season. We were offered a place at Silver Jubilee Park by the Maccabi Masters League which I accepted even though hiring the 3G there would provide us with our most expensive home pitch to date.
We also decided to reform the Second Team for the first time in four years. This decision was made based upon the success of the 10 Second Team friendlies we staged during the 2016/17 season, a team which comprised mainly of fringe players from Simon Linden's large squad. We decided to raise the match subscription fee for First Team players to £10 per game to cover the additional cost of hiring Silver Jubilee Park, an excellent venue which hosts Bostik League Premier Division matches played by Hendon FC.
Darren Zitren put himself forward to run the newly-formed Second Team and he brought in Steven Black to assist. They formed an excellent partnership together with Simon and Lee Fegan running the First Team, so before a ball was kicked we knew we had a sound management team in place. Once again David Goldberg and Hilton Tepper were looking after the Old Boys Team.
With excellent personnel in place to run our three teams the club approached the 2017/18 season with optimism that we would do well.
Unfortunately the Firsts got off to a bad start with key players leaving and poor opening results in Division 1, having been promoted the previous season. The Second Team fared little better and the Old Boys did not enjoy the best of starts either so I think we knew from an early stage that we would face a season of struggle.
A lot of new players were brought in but they did little to change the fortunes of our two MGBSFL teams. The Second Team were hindered by Boca Jewniors withdrawing from the league which denied the team their first league win. All in all, the results will not very good all the way through the season. However, what really hurt us was the mass unavailability of all too many players, a ridiculous percentage given the number we had registered to begin with. This resulted in the club having to forfeit six fixtures - two from the First Team and four from the Second Team, a record high during our long existence in Maccabi football. The lost income from match subs due to the forfeitures – plus the league fines that were imposed – left us short and for a long period we were facing our first financial deficit for a number of years.
Towards the end of the season we were virtually running the First Team and Second Team with a squad of around 18 players since it appeared that so many had lost interest and would not commit themselves to playing. The Old Boys were also affected by availability issues and David Goldberg had to bring in quite a few guests, the most we have seen for a number of seasons. On my part I cannot understand why players join the club, pay their money and then decide to make themselves unavailable all too often. Although I am aware of the National trend of fewer teams and players participating in 11-a-side football, a fact that has hit the MGBSFL and Masters leagues considerably, I remain hugely disappointed with the attitude of certain players within the club.
On the other hand I do applaud those who stayed committed and played most weeks when we had fixtures and I would express a big 'thank you' to them all for their continued service to TFFC. The MGBSFL brought in an additional competition towards the end of the season; originally called the Supplementary Cup, it was replaced by the Barry Goldstein Trophy, a competition which had seen us reach the Final in 2005. Our MGBSFL management team successfully integrated First Team and Second Team players to enable us to have a decent run in this competition, winning through three ties including a dramatic semi-final against FC Team on penalties
This bought us a cup final appearance for the first time since that 2005 Final and we were paired with Faithfold 'B' at Rowley Lane in late April. Perhaps in keeping with the miserable season that we have had results-wise, we did not enjoy a good occasion thanks to some very poor organisation by the League. Unfortunately, Temple Fortune lost 4-1 to Faithfold but the occasion was basically a farcical non-event and certainly not one to dwell upon.
Returning to our League fortunes, the First Team finished bottom of Division One whilst the Second Team and Old Boys Team finished one from bottom respectively so on the playing front we can reflect back with an enormous sense of disappointment having started the campaign with considerable enthusiasm and relish for the season ahead. However, I do think that our management on the MGBSFL side in particular was excellent and I would like to thank Simon, Lee, Darren and Steven for their thankless commitment and endeavours to make sure that we could raise teams in the majority of fixtures.
A campaign towards the end of the season to recover debts from players owing money proved to be successful in that we managed to bring in vital income, thanks to the efforts of Lee and Steven in particular. The club managed to claw back a high deficit to actually finish the season in the black which is hugely pleasing considering everything. On 21st February our MGBSFL management team met at Silver Jubilee Park and decided to fold the Second Team at the end of the season, although the official message given out in early May was that we were merging both teams into one for season 2018/19. It was also decided that the management structure for the 2018/19 season would include Simon, Lee and Steven running the remaining team which we agreed should compete in Division Two.
Elsewhere, plans to commemorate the club's Golden Anniversary were underway with the formation of a sub-committee chaired by my brother Peter and including Tony Espinoza, Mike Shorvon and Nick Waitsman. I have been working on the 50th Years book which I hope to complete over the summer and have printed, all things being well, for the start of the 2018/19 season. the cost of oprinting could well be around £1,200 or so but Robert Botkai of Winckworth Sherwood Solicitors and Stuart Lustigman of the Maccabi Masters Football League both agree to buy quarter-page adverts for £250 each which would certainly help.
James Ryan of Ellis & Co agreed to sponsor two playing kits, the shirt colour of which would replicate TFFC's first shirts of amber in 1971. These shirts would carry a special commemorative gold 50 Years badge which would be embroidered by Classic Sportswear of Cardiff. I ordered some navy polo shirts carrying the embroidered badge and hope to go full steam ahead with the two kits during the summer.
A sincere thank you to Simon, Lee, Darren, Steven, David and Hilton for their commitment throughout the season. Having to return to one MGBSFL team was definitely not the intention but we are all agreed that given the current climate it is the correct decision to make. Overall, the 2017/18 campaign can only be summed up as a major disappointment. .
NIGEL KYTE, 1st June 2018
The club made some big decisions for the 2017/18 season. We were offered a place at Silver Jubilee Park by the Maccabi Masters League which I accepted even though hiring the 3G there would provide us with our most expensive home pitch to date.
We also decided to reform the Second Team for the first time in four years. This decision was made based upon the success of the 10 Second Team friendlies we staged during the 2016/17 season, a team which comprised mainly of fringe players from Simon Linden's large squad. We decided to raise the match subscription fee for First Team players to £10 per game to cover the additional cost of hiring Silver Jubilee Park, an excellent venue which hosts Bostik League Premier Division matches played by Hendon FC.
Darren Zitren put himself forward to run the newly-formed Second Team and he brought in Steven Black to assist. They formed an excellent partnership together with Simon and Lee Fegan running the First Team, so before a ball was kicked we knew we had a sound management team in place. Once again David Goldberg and Hilton Tepper were looking after the Old Boys Team.
With excellent personnel in place to run our three teams the club approached the 2017/18 season with optimism that we would do well.
Unfortunately the Firsts got off to a bad start with key players leaving and poor opening results in Division 1, having been promoted the previous season. The Second Team fared little better and the Old Boys did not enjoy the best of starts either so I think we knew from an early stage that we would face a season of struggle.
A lot of new players were brought in but they did little to change the fortunes of our two MGBSFL teams. The Second Team were hindered by Boca Jewniors withdrawing from the league which denied the team their first league win. All in all, the results will not very good all the way through the season. However, what really hurt us was the mass unavailability of all too many players, a ridiculous percentage given the number we had registered to begin with. This resulted in the club having to forfeit six fixtures - two from the First Team and four from the Second Team, a record high during our long existence in Maccabi football. The lost income from match subs due to the forfeitures – plus the league fines that were imposed – left us short and for a long period we were facing our first financial deficit for a number of years.
Towards the end of the season we were virtually running the First Team and Second Team with a squad of around 18 players since it appeared that so many had lost interest and would not commit themselves to playing. The Old Boys were also affected by availability issues and David Goldberg had to bring in quite a few guests, the most we have seen for a number of seasons. On my part I cannot understand why players join the club, pay their money and then decide to make themselves unavailable all too often. Although I am aware of the National trend of fewer teams and players participating in 11-a-side football, a fact that has hit the MGBSFL and Masters leagues considerably, I remain hugely disappointed with the attitude of certain players within the club.
On the other hand I do applaud those who stayed committed and played most weeks when we had fixtures and I would express a big 'thank you' to them all for their continued service to TFFC. The MGBSFL brought in an additional competition towards the end of the season; originally called the Supplementary Cup, it was replaced by the Barry Goldstein Trophy, a competition which had seen us reach the Final in 2005. Our MGBSFL management team successfully integrated First Team and Second Team players to enable us to have a decent run in this competition, winning through three ties including a dramatic semi-final against FC Team on penalties
This bought us a cup final appearance for the first time since that 2005 Final and we were paired with Faithfold 'B' at Rowley Lane in late April. Perhaps in keeping with the miserable season that we have had results-wise, we did not enjoy a good occasion thanks to some very poor organisation by the League. Unfortunately, Temple Fortune lost 4-1 to Faithfold but the occasion was basically a farcical non-event and certainly not one to dwell upon.
Returning to our League fortunes, the First Team finished bottom of Division One whilst the Second Team and Old Boys Team finished one from bottom respectively so on the playing front we can reflect back with an enormous sense of disappointment having started the campaign with considerable enthusiasm and relish for the season ahead. However, I do think that our management on the MGBSFL side in particular was excellent and I would like to thank Simon, Lee, Darren and Steven for their thankless commitment and endeavours to make sure that we could raise teams in the majority of fixtures.
A campaign towards the end of the season to recover debts from players owing money proved to be successful in that we managed to bring in vital income, thanks to the efforts of Lee and Steven in particular. The club managed to claw back a high deficit to actually finish the season in the black which is hugely pleasing considering everything. On 21st February our MGBSFL management team met at Silver Jubilee Park and decided to fold the Second Team at the end of the season, although the official message given out in early May was that we were merging both teams into one for season 2018/19. It was also decided that the management structure for the 2018/19 season would include Simon, Lee and Steven running the remaining team which we agreed should compete in Division Two.
Elsewhere, plans to commemorate the club's Golden Anniversary were underway with the formation of a sub-committee chaired by my brother Peter and including Tony Espinoza, Mike Shorvon and Nick Waitsman. I have been working on the 50th Years book which I hope to complete over the summer and have printed, all things being well, for the start of the 2018/19 season. the cost of oprinting could well be around £1,200 or so but Robert Botkai of Winckworth Sherwood Solicitors and Stuart Lustigman of the Maccabi Masters Football League both agree to buy quarter-page adverts for £250 each which would certainly help.
James Ryan of Ellis & Co agreed to sponsor two playing kits, the shirt colour of which would replicate TFFC's first shirts of amber in 1971. These shirts would carry a special commemorative gold 50 Years badge which would be embroidered by Classic Sportswear of Cardiff. I ordered some navy polo shirts carrying the embroidered badge and hope to go full steam ahead with the two kits during the summer.
A sincere thank you to Simon, Lee, Darren, Steven, David and Hilton for their commitment throughout the season. Having to return to one MGBSFL team was definitely not the intention but we are all agreed that given the current climate it is the correct decision to make. Overall, the 2017/18 campaign can only be summed up as a major disappointment. .
NIGEL KYTE, 1st June 2018