REPORT FOR SEASON 2024/25
"The highlight of season 2024/25 has been on the financial front more so than the playing front. With membership fees and weekly match subs giving us ample income to cover our expenditure, the Club has been in a good position throughout the campaign which is one of the more pleasing aspects I can draw from a difficult season.
The Club had a better pre-season than the previous summer's general disorganisation and the First Team were given a splendid new playing kit thanks to the sponsorship from Harris Balcombe and M & Sons, courtesy of Sammy Samuelson and Dudi Edreyi. This was the first time we had a dual sponsorship for the First Team. Players were given the opportunity to buy their own kit sets in an effort to rid the team of kit shortage endured the previous season. Another plus at the beginning of the season was having the superb pitch-side display board erected at SJP.
The First Team, who suffered a rather miserable 2023/24 season, were expected to favour better in the Second Division which, with the exception of champions Sukkotingham Forest, was filled with mediocre teams. Despite winning five league matches and well placed in second place for quite a long period, the Firsts still finished with more defeats than wins. A bad run towards the end of the short league programme gave the team a hugely disappointing fifth place finish. Not since season 2019/20 have the Firsts finished with more wins than losses in the league.
Any possible improvement was not reflected in the cup competitions, in which the Firsts played five games, losing them all. Two of these were quarter-final ties in the David Wolff Division 2 Cup and the Barry Goldstein Trophy.
The Old Boys Team had a mixed season in the Masters League. In the first phase, which entailed playing each team once, the team finished in a creditable third place, winning four games out of seven. The League then split the eight teams into two divisions of four, but instead of resetting phase 2 at zero, decided to roll on the points, a move I strongly opposed. A precedent had been set in season 2003/04 when the League ran with two phases but started phase 2 from scratch. The MMFL ManCom chose a different format which, in my opinion, was flawed.
However, full credit to Simon's team for finishing third, the Old Boys Team's highest league placing since season 2007/08, but the dubious 'reward' for the improvement was having to play six more fixtures in Division One, four of them against Maccabi London Lions and Scrabble. Personally, I would have liked the Old Boys to have had a crack at the Division 2 summit which was very winnable but their relative success in phase 1 made this impossible.
So Temple Fortune's positive league record in phase 1 was undone by inevitable struggle in phase 2, resulting in an overall negative record of more defeats than wins. Still, third place objectively showed a pleasing improvement. In the cups, Fortune reached the semi-final in both the Nathan Horwitz Cup and Jack Morgan Cup, losing to Brady on both occasions, the latter defeat by a single goal.
I believe that, at the time of writing this report, Simon Black will be standing down as manager of the Old Boys Team, having undertaken the role for four seasons. He has certainly raised the standard on the playing side by making the team more competitive and arguably has been unlucky not to have enjoyed a bit of success, losing in a few cup semis and missing out on a potential Division 2 title. I would like to thank Simon sincerely for all his sterling work on both the recruitment and tactical sides. Third place is no mean feat in what has effectively been a two-horse race for a number of years.
This was not a smooth-running season by any stretch of the imagination. With the FA requiring every club to have a welfare officer, Kerry Higham took on this role and had to deal with quite a few issues with First Team players. At the beginning of the season, there was an unsavoury disagreement with Stevie Allen relating to Kerry's role as matchday secretary (confirming fixtures) which left a sour taste in my mouth. He requested her to stand down so that he could effectively take on the job but I would not agree to this.
On top of these issues we had various First Team players asking to leave, questioning the manager's ability, and debt problems with some players which dragged on far too long. We also endured playing kit and baselayer anomalies as our First Team match-day admin seemed to drop in standard.
In February, a difficult decision was made to part company with manager Stevie Allen. This followed a defaulted tie in the Super Cup/BGT where he could not raise a team. The feedback we received was that he had effectively lost the changing room, so to speak, and quite a few players no longer wanted to play for him. There was clearly a lot of disharmony in the camp which was very concerning. Unfortunately, Stevie's win percentage record is one of the worst of all the managers we have had and we felt there had been little progress despite playing in a relatively poor Division 2.
I would like to place on record my thanks to Stevie for his time, commitment and efforts over nearly two seasons. Nobody could fault his hard work but I do not believe he was able to bring the best out of the players, for whatever reason. Simon moved quickly to appoint James Lee, a First Team player out with a long-term injury, which was well received and certainly lifted the feeling of despondency in the squad.
In complete contrast, the Old Boys Team ran smoothly with no admin issues to be concerned about.
My brother Peter decided to step down as Functions Officer, a role he felt he could no longer undertake due to plans for a proposed club dinner effectively being put on hold. However, Peter retains his place on the Management Committee by virtue of being a Co-Founder of the Club and pleasingly he exercised his right to continue in this capacity as per the Club Rules & Regulations.
Towards the end of the season we negotiated a contract with Rob Morris, who was intending to stand down as co-owner and wished to protect TFFC's interests, to hire the pitch at SJP for £225 per game over the next three seasons. We agreed to take 12 weeks and make payments in two instalments at the end of August and December each year.
A major positive during the season was the Club taking part in two quiz evenings at SJP in November 2024 and February 2025, where we were runners-up on both occasions. As a highly respected facility user and partner, the Club were rewarded with two payments from the evenings' proceeds totalling £450 which was hugely appreciated from the SJP Charitable Foundation, which raised £5,000 and £4,000 respectively for its member partners. This £450 will be carried forward to next season to start up the Club's Book printing fund which hopefully will contribute towards the printing of the TFFC book to commemorate our 50th season in the M(S)FL at the end of the 2025/26 season.
A word or two about our end-of-season CAPE morning. I would suggest this was our best ever in terms of organisation and enjoyment, amounting to wonderful positive vibes to end this difficult campaign. On a personal note, I was hugely appreciative of the crystal award I received for passing 50 seasons as a qualified referee; this recognition from Peter, Kerry and Mike Shorvon on behalf of the Club I love means a considerable amount to me.
Overall, season 2024/25 was difficult and too often unenjoyable from my point of view because of the various issues along the way, particularly regarding the management of the First Team. I would like to thank Sammy and Jonathan for their hard work on the match-day admin front and especially Kerry for undertaking a lot of administration in her usual efficient manner."
"
NIGEL KYTE, 2nd June 2025
"The highlight of season 2024/25 has been on the financial front more so than the playing front. With membership fees and weekly match subs giving us ample income to cover our expenditure, the Club has been in a good position throughout the campaign which is one of the more pleasing aspects I can draw from a difficult season.
The Club had a better pre-season than the previous summer's general disorganisation and the First Team were given a splendid new playing kit thanks to the sponsorship from Harris Balcombe and M & Sons, courtesy of Sammy Samuelson and Dudi Edreyi. This was the first time we had a dual sponsorship for the First Team. Players were given the opportunity to buy their own kit sets in an effort to rid the team of kit shortage endured the previous season. Another plus at the beginning of the season was having the superb pitch-side display board erected at SJP.
The First Team, who suffered a rather miserable 2023/24 season, were expected to favour better in the Second Division which, with the exception of champions Sukkotingham Forest, was filled with mediocre teams. Despite winning five league matches and well placed in second place for quite a long period, the Firsts still finished with more defeats than wins. A bad run towards the end of the short league programme gave the team a hugely disappointing fifth place finish. Not since season 2019/20 have the Firsts finished with more wins than losses in the league.
Any possible improvement was not reflected in the cup competitions, in which the Firsts played five games, losing them all. Two of these were quarter-final ties in the David Wolff Division 2 Cup and the Barry Goldstein Trophy.
The Old Boys Team had a mixed season in the Masters League. In the first phase, which entailed playing each team once, the team finished in a creditable third place, winning four games out of seven. The League then split the eight teams into two divisions of four, but instead of resetting phase 2 at zero, decided to roll on the points, a move I strongly opposed. A precedent had been set in season 2003/04 when the League ran with two phases but started phase 2 from scratch. The MMFL ManCom chose a different format which, in my opinion, was flawed.
However, full credit to Simon's team for finishing third, the Old Boys Team's highest league placing since season 2007/08, but the dubious 'reward' for the improvement was having to play six more fixtures in Division One, four of them against Maccabi London Lions and Scrabble. Personally, I would have liked the Old Boys to have had a crack at the Division 2 summit which was very winnable but their relative success in phase 1 made this impossible.
So Temple Fortune's positive league record in phase 1 was undone by inevitable struggle in phase 2, resulting in an overall negative record of more defeats than wins. Still, third place objectively showed a pleasing improvement. In the cups, Fortune reached the semi-final in both the Nathan Horwitz Cup and Jack Morgan Cup, losing to Brady on both occasions, the latter defeat by a single goal.
I believe that, at the time of writing this report, Simon Black will be standing down as manager of the Old Boys Team, having undertaken the role for four seasons. He has certainly raised the standard on the playing side by making the team more competitive and arguably has been unlucky not to have enjoyed a bit of success, losing in a few cup semis and missing out on a potential Division 2 title. I would like to thank Simon sincerely for all his sterling work on both the recruitment and tactical sides. Third place is no mean feat in what has effectively been a two-horse race for a number of years.
This was not a smooth-running season by any stretch of the imagination. With the FA requiring every club to have a welfare officer, Kerry Higham took on this role and had to deal with quite a few issues with First Team players. At the beginning of the season, there was an unsavoury disagreement with Stevie Allen relating to Kerry's role as matchday secretary (confirming fixtures) which left a sour taste in my mouth. He requested her to stand down so that he could effectively take on the job but I would not agree to this.
On top of these issues we had various First Team players asking to leave, questioning the manager's ability, and debt problems with some players which dragged on far too long. We also endured playing kit and baselayer anomalies as our First Team match-day admin seemed to drop in standard.
In February, a difficult decision was made to part company with manager Stevie Allen. This followed a defaulted tie in the Super Cup/BGT where he could not raise a team. The feedback we received was that he had effectively lost the changing room, so to speak, and quite a few players no longer wanted to play for him. There was clearly a lot of disharmony in the camp which was very concerning. Unfortunately, Stevie's win percentage record is one of the worst of all the managers we have had and we felt there had been little progress despite playing in a relatively poor Division 2.
I would like to place on record my thanks to Stevie for his time, commitment and efforts over nearly two seasons. Nobody could fault his hard work but I do not believe he was able to bring the best out of the players, for whatever reason. Simon moved quickly to appoint James Lee, a First Team player out with a long-term injury, which was well received and certainly lifted the feeling of despondency in the squad.
In complete contrast, the Old Boys Team ran smoothly with no admin issues to be concerned about.
My brother Peter decided to step down as Functions Officer, a role he felt he could no longer undertake due to plans for a proposed club dinner effectively being put on hold. However, Peter retains his place on the Management Committee by virtue of being a Co-Founder of the Club and pleasingly he exercised his right to continue in this capacity as per the Club Rules & Regulations.
Towards the end of the season we negotiated a contract with Rob Morris, who was intending to stand down as co-owner and wished to protect TFFC's interests, to hire the pitch at SJP for £225 per game over the next three seasons. We agreed to take 12 weeks and make payments in two instalments at the end of August and December each year.
A major positive during the season was the Club taking part in two quiz evenings at SJP in November 2024 and February 2025, where we were runners-up on both occasions. As a highly respected facility user and partner, the Club were rewarded with two payments from the evenings' proceeds totalling £450 which was hugely appreciated from the SJP Charitable Foundation, which raised £5,000 and £4,000 respectively for its member partners. This £450 will be carried forward to next season to start up the Club's Book printing fund which hopefully will contribute towards the printing of the TFFC book to commemorate our 50th season in the M(S)FL at the end of the 2025/26 season.
A word or two about our end-of-season CAPE morning. I would suggest this was our best ever in terms of organisation and enjoyment, amounting to wonderful positive vibes to end this difficult campaign. On a personal note, I was hugely appreciative of the crystal award I received for passing 50 seasons as a qualified referee; this recognition from Peter, Kerry and Mike Shorvon on behalf of the Club I love means a considerable amount to me.
Overall, season 2024/25 was difficult and too often unenjoyable from my point of view because of the various issues along the way, particularly regarding the management of the First Team. I would like to thank Sammy and Jonathan for their hard work on the match-day admin front and especially Kerry for undertaking a lot of administration in her usual efficient manner."
"
NIGEL KYTE, 2nd June 2025