Blank space in text after figures and tables

Question

I usually position my tables and figures with [H] and after tables and figures the text suddenly has an empty space as shown in the above picture. I am not totally sure but this also happend since I enabled the option a4paper in the documentclass report. How can I go back to not having this blank after each figure or table that is position with [H]?

    \documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{report}
\setcounter{tocdepth}{4}
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{4}
\usepackage[textwidth=16cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{calc}  
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{apalike}
\newcommand\mycite[2][]{%
  \citeauthor{#2}\ (\citeyear{#2})\ifx#1\undefined\else, #1\fi}
  \newcommand\myfootcite[2][]{\footnote{\mycite[#1]{#2}}}
  \def\prevcite{} % initialize \prevcite
%% macro for in-text citation
\newcommand\tcite[2][]{%  
  \def\newcite{#2} 
  \ifx\prevcite\newcite 
    Ibid.%
  \else%
    \gdef\prevcite{#2}% update \prevcite
    \citeauthor{#2}\ (\citeyear{#2})%
  \fi
  \ifx#1\undefined\else, #1\fi}
%% macro for in-footnote citation
\newcommand\fcite[2][]{\footnote{\tcite[#1]{#2}}}

\usepackage{rotating}


\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\ibid}{Ibid.}
  \let\@predcite\@empty
  \let\@currcite\@empty
\def\citef{\kernel@ifnextchar[\citef@{\citef@[]}}
\def\citef@[#1]{\kernel@ifnextchar[{\citef@@[{#1}]}{\citef@@[][{#1}]}}
\def\citef@@[#1][#2]#3{%
  \def\@currcite{#3}%
  \unskip
    \ifx\@currcite\@predcite
      \footnote{#1 \ifx\tempa\@empty\unskip\fi%
      \ibid\ifx\tempb\@empty\else\NAT@cmt #2\fi}%
    \else%
      \footnote{\citealp[#1][#2]{#3}}%
    \fi
  \gdef\@predcite{#3}%
}
\makeatother

\usepackage{tabulary}
\usepackage[maxfloats=30,morefloats=12]{morefloats}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\newcommand\mc[1]{\multicolumn{1}{c}{#1}} % a handy shortcut macro
\usepackage[usestackEOL]{stackengine}
\usepackage{float,lscape}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{pdflscape}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\makeatletter
\def\hlinewd#1{%
  \noalign{\ifnum0=`}\fi\hrule \@height #1 \futurelet
   \reserved@a\@xhline}
\makeatother
\usepackage[font=footnotesize,bf]{caption}
\usepackage{url}
\urlstyle{same}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{bigstrut}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\graphicspath{{C:/Users/Enrico/lateximages/}}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[RO,RE]{\fontsize{10}{12}\selectfont\nouppercase\thepage}
\fancyhead[LO,LE]{\fontsize{10}{12}\selectfont\nouppercase\leftmark} 
\fancyfoot{}
\fancypagestyle{plain}{%
\fancyhf{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt} % remove lines as well
  \renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
}

    \makeatletter
\renewcommand*\@makechapterhead[1]{%
  %\vspace*{50\p@}%
  {\parindent \z@ \raggedright \normalfont
    \ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
        \huge\bfseries \@chapapp\space \thechapter
        \par\nobreak
        \vskip 20\p@
    \fi
    \interlinepenalty\@M
    \Huge \bfseries #1\par\nobreak
    \vskip 40\p@
  }}
\renewcommand*\@makeschapterhead[1]{%
  %\vspace*{50\p@}%
  {\parindent \z@ \raggedright
    \normalfont
    \interlinepenalty\@M
    \Huge \bfseries  #1\par\nobreak
    \vskip 40\p@
  }}
\makeatother

    \begin{document}



    This and the comparison with gymnastics  clarifies that despite the hype that it generated, football was still in the very early stages of development in Switzerland during the first half of the 20th century. With the advantage of football being less reliant on equipment, many played on the streets or in playgrounds rather than in clubs, especially the younger generation.

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\caption{Membership of ETV and SFAV 1910 - 1930}
\includegraphics[width=12cm,keepaspectratio]{footballvsgym}
\centering
    \captionsetup{font={scriptsize}}
    \caption*{Source: Eidgenössischer Turnverein (1910-1930) and Ruoff (1953), own repr. based on A.6/A.25}
\centering
\end{figure}

Figure 7.1 depicts a direct comparison of the total members of both football and gymnastics for the last third of the observation period. First of all, it is blatantly obvious that gymnastics had the much larger membership base than football. he last third of the observation period. First of all

    \end{document}