Reginald74 old thing.  You are absolutely right. It is now time to stop all the nonsense. His Lordship has been amazed that no-one has called him out sooner.. such is the tolerance and good grace of his fellow posters. It has been a pleasure posting on the forum this season, but I  would not want to overstay my welcome ( interesting as it was !). With this final or "last" post I will now formally bow out.  His Lordship .. or John Davies as I am in real life...can in future look forward next season to reading the wisdom of others on the Forum, unburdened by the responsibility of producing his own rather shaky analysis.
His attachment to CTFC, however, remains undimmed and he will be in attendance at the Commercial Open Forum on Wednesday at 7.30 and at H&W next Saturday along with others, chauffeured one last time in the Daimler ( Mercedes) by The Bearded Wonder (Ross H.). to shout on  The Bluebirds.
Farewell!!
 

It was a clear case of "Alas poor Yorick!" for Hamlet yesterday at the TSS, as they duly suffered .."the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune "  ...or to put it simply ...superior opponents ....in the shape of a pretty buoyant CTFC.

His Lordship' Inexpert Analysis No 18... (or probably 19? or even 20?)

Overall: the correct result.  Football was definitely trickier than the previous  Monday, courtesy of a nagging, gusting North-East wind.  The beautiful looking playing surface was inevitably hardening and bumping up as well, given the near-drought conditions of  recent weeks.

DHFC:  surprisingly disappointing.  They played with a lack of real intensity  and only once found their rhythm for 10 or 15 minutes after half time. Their number 7 worked extremely hard to make things happen and there was evidence of quality but not the sort of "ears pinned back" intent shown by CTFC.

CTFC:  carried on where we left off on Monday.  Excellent in defence, industrious in midfield and
always looking dangerous up front. Took our feet off the pedal a bit after half time when we weren't finding a blue shirt but picked it up again to create the better of the afternoon's  chances, culminating in the utter simplicty of the second goal;  a JH cross and a perfectly positioned and unmarked KP  just having to side foot the ball into the net at the far post  ... easier said than done!  DHFC managed to kep Alefe and Alex B pretty quiet, but once again Jordan's left foot opened up space like a can-opener, time and time again.  Given the pretty poor disciplinary record of the final months of Mark C's stewardship,  it is noticeable how much better we are in  the tackle  especially in the "danger zone".  All our back four made important, well-timed tackles as Dulwich players surged into our penalty area.  No silly/ frustrated lunges... just standing up and taking the ball. In the latter stages, Alefe and then Ola made s

On arrival at the TSS yesterday His Lordship sensed  a good feeling in the air. Spring renaissance? A new  era?  The sun was out, a stiff breeze tugged at the flags aloft the dug-outs; the pitch looked a picture of immaculate, glossy  stripes; the CTYFC kids looked equally shiny and bright carrying out their Guard of Honour duties; Simon's upbeat introductions and team lists even elicited some proper cheers! ( a first?)  All seemed set fair for Young Gary H's first home game in charge.  And so, best beloved, it turned out.....

His Lordships' Inexpert Analysis No. 17

A really enjoyable game of football served up by two entertaining sides. Good performances everywhere, not least from the referee (and his asistants). who had occasion to  issue only one yellow card and from His Lordship's perspective, pretty well, got every call right.

OCFC:
Must be, physically, the smallest team in the NLS. Proper footballing side, with lots of small, quick players
always carrying some threat, especially down the left flank, from whence stemmed their best chances. Looked lively and dangerous for the first half  but gradually ran out of ideas as the game progressed.  Latterly, employed the high ball far too much ... making it relatively easy work for Spencer H., Will R and KP  to win almost every aerial battle.

CTFC:  played to our strengths... resolute defence and quick breaks.  His Lordship was initially doubtful seeing young Alex Bray elevated up the pitch to out-and out striker role... but he kept at it well and caused problems.  His goal... which was very much all his own work ,  was deft and excellent. Well deserved. The midfield worked hard, harried and always looked to release the front 3 quickly. His Lordship has no problems at all with Spencer H's MoTM status... I think he won everything thrown at him and worked his socks off.  At the risk of boring repetition ( surely not you Your Lordship! - Ed.) I cannot overstate just how much

Easter Monday, post Ox City,  for the Bearded Wonder and myself...  Have private messaged.

Dispatches from a Covid sick-bed ( No,he  did not attend the game on Saturday).

His Lordship was saddened to hear of the departure of Le Chef.  When we were good under him, we were very good.  An exceptionally, and dispiritingly, poor September and October  might have cost us more than just  points, in potentially losing us 80-100 regular attenders, which in turn has led to inevitable belt tightening. We'll never know the truth behind what's gone on -  as the Club, not being a public entity, is obviously not required to share with us any of its financial or decision-making processes.  We can only surmise....
His Lordship would guess ( probably incorrectly) that MC will be moving on to a bigger club, one who can more readily afford the team he brings with him.  There are a number of NLS clubs who could do that.  Mike Cook took over a team in relative turmoil at the end of Mark C's tenure and made them into a solid mid-table side with marginal play-off aspirations. That's going to look good on his CV given the budgetary constraints he's had to work under. The truth is, that we probably cannot afford a 3 man management structure  at the moment.  We must also recognise that this model is what some will feel is required nowadays for any Club with aspirations. Manager and Coach and Stats/metrics/conditiong experts really are not "hangers on," a rather demeaning term;  in fact nowadays , they're not  even regarded as  luxuries in football Clubs at all, even at our level.  EFL clubs will have data managers, player welfare experts, psycholgists etc as standard. We probably have to face up to this.

As to trying to arrest the hemmhoraging of support, His Lordship can only agree fully with young Simon "The Voice" in his plea for those with a marketing idea or a bit of energy - or both - to move off their keyboards and offer up those same energies  in active support.  His Lordship and The Bearded |Wonder are more tha