End of season report 2023/2024

Our season ended a month ago with defeat to Lee Man, condemning us to our worst season in years, and the upcoming 2024-25 campaign will be our first without continental football for over a decade. We had another Senior Shield win and home ACL games for the first time in years, but our defence of the league fell apart completely. Here at Angry Boundary Street we've taken time to analyse our season, and look ahead to next campaign.

The competitions

Hong Kong Premier League- 4th

Kitchee were always playing catchup after September's battering away at Lee Man. Players were rushed back from injury far too soon in response to this, which led to recurring injuries. A midseason recovery and a long unbeaten run gave us renewed hope, but a collapse in April and May meant we finished 4th, our lowest league position since 2019. A continually disjointed attack (missing a centre forward) and a lack of pace in defence were our two main stumbling points, not only in the league but often in other competitions as well.

FA Cup- semifinal

An easy quarter final win against HKFC, who never looked like scoring. But fans would've wanted it to be more comprehensive. After a tough April and early May, we took on Eastern in the semi final with fan morale low, and two goals from Baffoe and a red card for Paulo saw us fall to another disappointing defeat.

Senior Shield- winners

Credits to Edmund

Like the FA Cup, a straightforward quarter final victory (even Kim Shin-wook scored twice in a 7-0 thrashing of RCFC). This was followed up with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Lee Man, setting up a repeat of last year's final against Eastern. Kitchee were outplayed, and our defensive frailties were highlighted by an energetic Eastern front line. Charlie Scott's stoppage time penalty dragged our ten men to extra time before Mingazow's winner.

Sapling Cup- runners up

A strange campaign. Clashes with international fixtures meant that some of our Hong Kong internationals scarcely featured throughout the campaign. Kitchee blooded young players but opted for experience where available. Won the group despite not being at their best and snuck past Tai Po in the semi final thanks to Tan Chun-lok's stoppage time winner. There were a couple of strange selection calls for the final- Poon starting at centre forward, and Ramic and Roberto playing at centre back together for the first time, and Kitchee went on to lose 1-0.

Credits to Dickson

Asian Champions League- 4th in group

Three poor home performances, where Kitchee were exposed defensively. Jakob Jantscher aside (scored in 4 games in a row) the attack looked flat, with Juninho, Kim Shin-wook and Mingazow all missing games through injury. Kitchee fared slightly better away, with a battling draw with ten men in Bangkok and a win in Singapore over Lion City Sailors. Kitchee will wonder what could have been, if we had a full strength squad available throughout.

Hong Kong Premier League Cup- winners

A new competition to provide fans with some football over the Asian Cup break. Kitchee demolished Eastern 5-0 in the semi-final, to set up a final with Lee Man. It was 2-2 after fifteen minutes, and stayed that way for the rest of the game. Kitchee won the penalty shootout, with Roberto scoring the decisive kick.

General thoughts

Credits to Nathan

One major trophy was a massive let down from last season. The culmination of poor recent recruitment, especially too many aging players and no out and out striker. Either side of the Asian Cup we improved, although we benefitted with easier fixtures. Our rebuild is under way, with at least ten players confirmed to have left for pastures new. With so many player departures (thirteen at time of writing), we have been linked with a number of Hong Kong eligible players, addressing positions of need with a much younger age profile- Eastern centre back Leon Jones and North District left back/left winger Jordan Lam were confirmed recently by chairman Ken Ng. We expect these to be complemented by foreign players as the summer goes on. There was also confirmation this week of Edgar Cardoso's appointment as manager, with interim Kim Dong-jin taking over the under 22 team. Preseason will see us take on Atletico Madrid in early August, with rumours of a couple of games in Thailand as well.

Click here for part two, where we rate the players.

Written by Adam O'Domhnaill and Samuel

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