Attempting to sell the location not the club

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Now the dust has settled over a quiet deadline day I got to thinking, is the problem trying to sell the location rather than the club??
For us that are born n bred in and around Grimsby we know just what's around, the beautiful lincolnshire wolds, miles of golden coastline, lovely villages ect, but to someone who does not know anything all he sees and reads about is Grimsby, a town in decline, at the end of the country's worst road. Kills me to think like this but I have to wonder, because we can't offer the carrot of a decent wage or a perceived nice play to live, how will attract a better class of player, my heart sinks at the thought of not only the demise of my beloved GTFC but more so, the demise of my beloved home town of Grimsby

Quoted from RichMariner

I was born in Cleethorpes and left when I was 21 to go to uni in Huddersfield (and I've been living in Leeds ever since).

I attended an open day at Bangor university in North Wales and liked the place. But when I also saw an equally nice campus at Huddersfield I decided on Yorkshire because, well, Bangor was out on a limb and Huddersfield was within half an hour of several major cities (and that meant a better social life - gigs, nightlife, etc - and job prospects).

Of all the people I went to school with who left to go to uni, precisely none of them have returned.

I absolutely adore Grimsby and Cleethorpes. I love the football club and I love that I can return to see my parents - still living in the house that I grew up in. My grandparents used to live down Manchester Street - also where my dad grew up.

I have a job in Leeds that just doesn't exist in North East Lincolnshire. There are nice things from back home that I miss, but that's because of the emotional connection I have with a childhood spent there. It's almost impossible to view our home town(s) objectively.

I must admit, that drive along the A180 past the refineries, food factories and decrepit docks isn't doing us any favours. I see those things and feel all warm inside because it means I'm almost 'home', but if I saw the same things on my approach to Wigan, for argument's sake, I'd feel very different about it.

Footballers' careers are short. For what we're able to pay them, they'd have to consider uprooting from places they call home - even if they don't live in Leeds, for example, they can have a career in Sheffield, or Manchester, and still feel close enough. Grimsby, on the other hand, just feels that bit further and that bit unknown - and it's not like we have anything to offer that other cities in the north don't have (although our beach is decent).

It's vital we look after our youth team and develop local talent because fewer players will relocate. If we were still in the Championship and had money to play with, I'm sure that would sweeten the deal, but when Carl Magnay left I remember him saying something about petrol money.

Seems trivial in the grand scheme of things, but that's the level we operate at now. As much as I (and we) love Grimsby, we're only going to become less attractive to players. As hard as that is to hear/read.

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Erm, Townsend, Nolan, Toto, Mendonca.oh, lest not forget Bogle, Francis who both are now at premier league clubs...unfortunately monkeyboy the times we now live in are those where to get young blood isn't about the house it's about what living here offers them, which to the outsider us a shitehole that stinks of fish, you and I know that's wrong but it's how the outside world perceives Grimsby

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Who the heck would want to live in Leeds, footballer or no footballer? Grimsby is no more or less attractive to any footballer if the money is right. Who would want to live in Rochdale, or Rotherham or Fleetwood or Bury or Blackburn or Hull or Scunthorpe or Accrington or Burnley or wherever?

Attractive places like York or Chester has done them no good at all as it? It is just an urban myth about Grimsby. The reason some players give it a miss is we have been shocking for 17 years or so, we don't pay high enough wages to get the really sought after players and we are seen as a struggling league 2 club.

Quoted from mariner91

I think you're missing the point. You don't have to live in Fleetwood or Burnley or Blackburn if you play for the club but you're within a very easy commute from Manchester or Liverpool if you fancy living in a larger urban area with more going on. Which for most blokes in their 20's, is what they're after. The point about York and Chester doing badly is moot because it's not a hard and fast rule that nice/more desirable places to live will automatically be successful, the clubs still need to be run well but they have a geographical advantage in attracting players if everything else is equal.