Departing senior coach Alex De La Torre this week wrote an open letter to all members of the club, in which he explains his decision to resign from his position as senior coach:

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all of my decision to step away from soccer in 2011 thus meaning that I will not continue as senior coach in 2011. 

It has taken me many weeks to come to this decision but it is a decision that is made in the best interest of my ‘soon to be’ expanding family.

With the birth of my child due in early/mid December, I could not ensure that I would be able to give you all 100% of my time, energy and commitment. I have always been very passionate about players giving 100% effort and commitment when playing for the club, and I could do no less.

Regrettably, aside from the many hours of actual coaching and preparation, the distance/travelling factor also meant that to be fully committed to the club, I would on average spend 30+ hours per week involved in club/team matters. This time will be sorely needed at home when the baby comes along.

I’d like to think that I brought to the club a different philosophy and I believe that the senior playing group is well on the way to achieving many of the goals we wanted to achieve at the start of this year. Although we did not achieve all the goals we set at the start of the year, the senior team did achieve many excellent results: 

1. More clean sheets than in 2009 (4 of them)
2. We only conceded 3 goals in two games (as opposed to conceding 3 goals in 8 games in 2009) and did not concede more than 3 goals in any game (conceded more than 3 in four games in 2009)
3. Our total ‘goal conceded’ of 29 was the 4^th best in the league.
4. We improved our overall points total to 26 (20 in 2009) and also improved our points total at home with 11 points (only 9 points in 2009).
5. In terms of improving our consistency, we only ever lost 2 games in a row, as opposed to the 4 consecutive losses in 2009.
6. We went 3 weeks undefeated, which was an improvement from 2009’s best sequence of two, and more impressively, we only lost 2 of our last 9 games.
7. Of our ten losses, 4 were 0-1 and another four of them were by 2 goals only (lost 6 games by 2 or more goals in 2009)
8. We had a tremendous record against the top teams, winning 4 out of 8 games and losing 3 of the other 4 by 0-1 margin.
9. Finally, we were 2 wins away from a 4^th spot finish.

You should all be very proud of your efforts in 2010. In terms of building for the future, it was a great success and my parting wish is that you all redouble your efforts during pre-season, on training nights and on game days to ensure that Old Carey keeps moving forward.

I wish you all the very best of luck for all your future endeavours, both in soccer and in life, and thank you all for making 2010 a memorable and enjoyable year.

I hope to see you all at some stage during 2011, most likely with a little one in tow.

Until then, thank you and good bye.

Alex De La Torre