The owners and Hurst constantly talk about struggling to sign players due to our location and the fact players don't want to live in Grimsby.
They very rarely say that we don't sign players due to our budget.

Stockwood mentioned that he wants to create a community football club, but what effect would it really have, having the players train somewhere like the outskirts of Doncaster or similar?

Positives are clearly that it would make us a more suitable option to potential players, due to lower travelling times and the ability to still live in/outside big cities.
Negatives are what? - The potential that it takes abit of 'community spirit' from the club? - Barrow seem to be doing it and they are currently having good success.

Personally for me, I couldn't care if the players trained in London throughout the week, as long as we are attracting a better calibre of player, whilst still not paying over the odds, and we start to pick up better results and climb back up towards the Championship, were we arguably belong.

Thoughts?

It's hard to be a community club when the community can't utilise the club's facilities.

It's an absolutely ridiculous idea; there is nothing stopping the training facilities being more accessible within the boundaries of North East Lincolnshire.

Another thread about it 😳

We've just done a 15 page thread on this:

https://forum.thefishy.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1674835686/s-new/

And it’s a waste of time anyway, as the owners have made it perfectly clear they have no intention of building a training ground out of town .

Quoted from SteffiMariner

It's hard to be a community club when the community can't utilise the club's facilities.

It's an absolutely ridiculous idea; there is nothing stopping the training facilities being more accessible within the boundaries of North East Lincolnshire.

In what way do you think the community should be able to utilise the club's training ground? Being within the boundaries of North East Lincolnshire is the issue since that starts around Immingham and ends around Waltham, it's a very small area that is mostly empty fields away from the coast.  ;D

I think the chairman has been clear and it makes sense to me.

Unlike a tiny amount of cynics I am fully behind the B Corps ambition and I would suggest that having a training ground outside of the community would not sit well with all that stuff.

I seem to think we spent many pages debating this before the season started. I cannot see the point of debating this again when we have not had any news from the club about the new training ground.

Quoted from Kris2

In what way do you think the community should be able to utilise the club's training ground? Being within the boundaries of North East Lincolnshire is the issue since that starts around Immingham and ends around Waltham, it's a very small area that is mostly empty fields away from the coast.  ;D

I think it's a misinterpretation of what was said. I think it was to do with ladies and kids teams being able to use the facilities, but people seem to join community and training ground being in the community as Joe public can rock up and use it, which is not going to happen.

What appears to have been a tricky transfer window may well cause a slight rethink on some previous standpoints....if the owners are as forward thinking and switched on as we may credit them for then surely a review of all aspects of the "gtfc package" needs to be included.

Possibly, a training ground on the way INTO Grimsby, off the A180, would be much more easily accessible for travelling players, and not too inconvenient for those living locally.

Would a training complex around the Novartis / Dunlop Marine areas, where there are football fields and ancillary buildings currently not in use, be more feasible to upgrade to the standards needed??

So, any update clues on where the current search is ongoing, or any progress yet?

Quoted from moosey_club

What appears to have been a tricky transfer window may well cause a slight rethink on some previous standpoints....if the owners are as forward thinking and switched on as we may credit them for then surely a review of all aspects of the "gtfc package" needs to be included.

This window has seemed particularly tricky, but we did OK last summer when we seemed to get a new signing every few days, and for the first part of the season we seemed to have recruited well.

On that basis I can't see them renaging on their stated aim to have the training complex at the heart of the community.

Quoted from Corkyefes

The owners and Hurst constantly talk about struggling to sign players due to our location and the fact players don't want to live in Grimsby.
They very rarely say that we don't sign players due to our budget.

Stockwood mentioned that he wants to create a community football club, but what effect would it really have, having the players train somewhere like the outskirts of Doncaster or similar?

Positives are clearly that it would make us a more suitable option to potential players, due to lower travelling times and the ability to still live in/outside big cities.
Negatives are what? - The potential that it takes abit of 'community spirit' from the club? - Barrow seem to be doing it and they are currently having good success.

Personally for me, I couldn't care if the players trained in London throughout the week, as long as we are attracting a better calibre of player, whilst still not paying over the odds, and we start to pick up better results and climb back up towards the Championship, were we arguably belong.

Thoughts?

If it was location they wouldn't even turn up to discuss a move .As 1 thing that never changes is where we are .Any that come turn us down for either money ,contract length or both

I'm waiting for somebody to suggest Freemo or the Docks.

Everyone seems to use Barrow as an example, the only club, as far as I know, that have their training base miles from Barrow, in Manchester.

I would suggest that their recruitment is more to do with money they offer rather than where their training facilities are.

Quoted from golfer

I'm waiting for somebody to suggest Freemo or the Docks.

Have a floating training ground at the Goole end of the Humber and sail it down to our end in the evenings so the community can use it. Best of both worlds.

Quoted from mimma

Everyone seems to use Barrow as an example, the only club, as far as I know, that have their training base miles from Barrow, in Manchester.

I would suggest that their recruitment is more to do with money they offer rather than where their training facilities are.

You think Barrow are splashing the cash? Really?

It's laughable to suggest Barrow having their training ground in Knutsford, Cheshire doesn't help them sign players given the geographic location of Barrow in Furness.

I think we should build a training ground in Great Coates. Right on the site where the magnificent Conoco Stadium would’ve sat. For no other reason than it would be urine funny.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

You think Barrow are splashing the cash? Really?

It's laughable to suggest Barrow having their training ground in Knutsford, Cheshire doesn't help them sign players given the geographic location of Barrow in Furness.

Barrow train in Salford.

[url]https://www.barrowafc.com/news/2022/june/010622-barrow-afc-announce-new-training-ground-partnership-with-de-la-salle-sports-and-social-club-in-salford/[/url]

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

I think we should build a training ground in Great Coates. Right on the site where the magnificent Conoco Stadium would’ve sat. For no other reason than it would be urine funny.

Early contender for post of the year?

Quoted from mimma

I would suggest that their recruitment is more to do with money they offer rather than where their training facilities are.

Indeed. Players by and large will go where the money is up and down the league's. Providing for the family will come first over any loose allegiances to clubs. Think of it another way if your and up coming talent with bags of potential and a championship club offers you £ 450 ,000 for 4 years as opposed to Grimsby who can only offer £ 50,000 it's no argument where you'll  end up. Footballers careers are often relatively short and they need to do what's best for themselves and their children.

Maybe even a facility on the land that MyEnergy have just built their nice new office/factory on? Just off the 180 at Stallingborough

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

I think we should build a training ground in Great Coates. Right on the site where the magnificent Conoco Stadium would’ve sat. For no other reason than it would be urine funny.

The Lesser Spotted Newts wouldn’t be happy

Quoted from grimps

The Lesser Spotted Newts wouldn’t be happy

Great crested I believe. Quite rare insofar as the entire British breeding colony are situated just off the busy A180 at Great Coates.

Quoted from grimps

The Lesser Spotted Newts wouldn’t be happy

intercourse em. Amphibian illegitimates.

Quoted from grimps

The Lesser Spotted Newts wouldn’t be happy

Rehouse them on Humberston Avenue. There seems to be a large piece of land that can't sell.

Isn't the point of having it within the community that it can be accessed by those in the community that don't have private transport?

Our best players of the future might be boys who's family don't have a car. Heart of the Town, grow your own.

Quoted from headingly_mariner

Isn't the point of having it within the community that it can be accessed by those in the community that don't have private transport?

Our best players of the future might be boys who's family don't have a car. Heart of the Town, grow your own.

Almost irrelevant because under the rules anybody who shows real promise at a young age can be picked up as a teenager for virtually nothing by a category 1 academy. They wouldn't stay at our club anyway and we'd have virtually no benefit.

I still don't understand why we got quite a bit for the youth player who went to Leicester.

Why not go one further and relocate the club to a far flung place more appealing to players, Manchester, London or even Ibiza.

Quoted from Azimuth

Why not go one further and relocate the club to a far flung place more appealing to players, Manchester, London or even Ibiza.

Me thinks you’ve been drinking lager with no top 🤣🤣🤣

Quoted from toontown

Almost irrelevant because under the rules anybody who shows real promise at a young age can be picked up as a teenager for virtually nothing by a category 1 academy. They wouldn't stay at our club anyway and we'd have virtually no benefit.

Ah, y'see whilst I'm in favour of us potentially having the first team training away from the town itself this is exactly the type of thing we want to avoid in my view.

As frustrating as it is that Cat 1 clubs can just cherry pick up who they want from the likes of us, it's absolutely not a reason to abandon your youth system.  The youth system is, to my eyes, about more than seeing lads come through the system and either play 300 games for us or he sold for a small fortune.  Of course that's a very welcome output but having a vibrant youth system is very much about engaging with the local community.  There are huge benefits from linking your youth work to the local community, on the most basic level you're hooking kids in to the fabric of the club.

I think it's Brentford who've abandoned their youth system as they were fed up of getting cherry picked.  They reinvested the money into their more statistical approach to recruitment, which has coincided with their promotion to the Premier League.  That makes it difficult to really see if there's any downside to their abandonment of the youth set-up in term of young fans coming through the turnstiles as kids wanna see Premier League footy.   But if in, let's say, 4 years time, they drop off down the leagues I reckon they would see a big gap in an age bracket of people who don't engage with the club.  For a club like Town, that could be potentially fatal once that age group get to the point where they're able to attend and spend.

Of course, there's more to the youth set-up and community work than just having 20 lads a year on the books.  My disclaimer is that I've no idea what community work Brentford do, it could be that they've outstanding outreach work and they've already got year group after year group of kids foaming at the mouth.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Ah, y'see whilst I'm in favour of us potentially having the first team training away from the town itself this is exactly the type of thing we want to avoid in my view.

As frustrating as it is that Cat 1 clubs can just cherry pick up who they want from the likes of us, it's absolutely not a reason to abandon your youth system.  The youth system is, to my eyes, about more than seeing lads come through the system and either play 300 games for us or he sold for a small fortune.  Of course that's a very welcome output but having a vibrant youth system is very much about engaging with the local community.  There are huge benefits from linking your youth work to the local community, on the most basic level you're hooking kids in to the fabric of the club.

I think it's Brentford who've abandoned their youth system as they were fed up of getting cherry picked.  They reinvested the money into their more statistical approach to recruitment, which has coincided with their promotion to the Premier League.  That makes it difficult to really see if there's any downside to their abandonment of the youth set-up in term of young fans coming through the turnstiles as kids wanna see Premier League footy.   But if in, let's say, 4 years time, they drop off down the leagues I reckon they would see a big gap in an age bracket of people who don't engage with the club.  For a club like Town, that could be potentially fatal once that age group get to the point where they're able to attend and spend.

Of course, there's more to the youth set-up and community work than just having 20 lads a year on the books.  My disclaimer is that I've no idea what community work Brentford do, it could be that they've outstanding outreach work and they've already got year group after year group of kids foaming at the mouth.

although i see your point, its very different from town. Brentford obviously has all the conurbations of London and the southeast to pick and choose from. even then, the scraps regurgitated by the academies from the likes of Chelsea, arsenal, Tottenham et al would still be far better you'd imagine from what we could possibly hope for. Not only because of natural talent but because of the training  and rehab facilities, stadium, coaching staff etc etc etc . IF we were to find that 1 : 1000000 player, you'd imagine they would soon have their heads turned when the bigger clubs send their vultures in.

I honestly think that an academy is a must for the club and community as one and not just on the mens playing side. By all accounts the ladies set up within the club is very good. its not just the next generation of players we are trying to recruit, but the next wave of town fans too. Players need to be seen locally. school visits, youth clubs, community projects, in the shops, in the pubs and restaurants. the connection should be on familiar surroundings not annexed 100 miles away

Theres certainly no protection for small clubs with their youngsters, maybe its about time to put some new rules in that will stop them poaching from a club unless the club gets very good deals like add ons etc.

how many have been poached then never gone on with prem clubs? thousands. and out of them thousands a lot will have just jacked in the dream even tho they may have been stars at our level..

Its detroying small clubs rather than helping.  imagine our homegrown being poached like the Mooresm drinkell etc. where would the club be now, whar history would we have?