The Location Issue

Quoted from bedders78

We got promoted last season

Yeah, but I don't see promotion from the fifth tier as the limit of our aspirations.

Ginnys post (102) makes good points. For me ,yes location is going to be a problem. We cant shift Gy so a) we have to have the best possible head of recruitment ( hopefully sorted) and b) a bloody good reputation in football for being good employers, a good club to play for and a good place to progress your career.
If we cant win on the location and we wont ( sensibly) pay over the odds we have to box very clever. Good facilities, great youth policy, goodxatmosphere/ reputation, competitive wages and a place where up n coming players, or those whove need to rebuild  will come to

Some sensible posts on here and not much to add other than the more young players we get in and sell in to bigger clubs the better, not just for finance but and what they’d contribute on the pitch but also reputation.

Within that it’s good to get a reputation for bringing in loanees, giving them game time and treating them well, some may come back later in their careers and bigger clubs will want you to take their talent for a bit, giving them minutes can be difficult though.

Geography, finance, two terms in NL, reputation as an employer in the JSF era makes it a challenge and the only way to get over that is by building long term and trading in a market that might not make their hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

You would think we live in the back of beyond.

We are an hour away from some big cities and their nighlife.

Plus Cleethorpes  have some places to enjoy a night out.

If that is the case maybe we should go for married players who enjoy a night in.

I bet there's just as many exiles on this forum than there is people in Grimsby, and people wonder why players won't come to Grimsby, even the supporters copulated the Town off.

Quoted from Nelly GTFC

I bet there's just as many exiles on this forum than there is people in Grimsby, and people wonder why players won't come to Grimsby, even the supporters copulated the Town off.

I am one of the exiles and the only reason we left out home town and it is still home to us is for work.

I have been fortunate to have a couple of jobs down here which are not just better paid but job security as well.

Also got an excellent pension from my employers so we are pleased we made the move.

Grimsby will always be home and town will always be my team.

I could watch Norwich, Ipswich ,Colchester or Cambridge all within an hour of my village but the only time I have watched them is when they played Grimsby.

When it comes to location, I think it has to be considered as a limitation for some players, but not all.

Footballers, like anyone in any walk of life will simply want to have the best quality of life they can get, which will come in all variants.

Someone mentioned Barrow and having the Lake District on the doorstep. For any calm, quiet footballer who likes the outdoor scene, that might be a much more attractive option than say Sutton, a comparatively similar club offering similar wages but in the M25 circle in and around the bustling City of London where that serenity won't be found as easily.

Put that in reverse, talented young footballers that have a touch of ego attached and want the lifestyle of a 'baller', will want to be in and around the big cities to lead an exciting or thriving social life.

But that only accounts for the slight bias towards a players personality, you've then got the physical aspect of relocating along with the cost where applicable.

Northern based players along the M62 corridor might opt to commute and put the driving hours in, but I'm sure they would want to see that cost reflected in their weekly wage or in the form of expenses. It's highly likely that a player will opt for the team that see's him financially better off, which might not always be the ones who gives him the highest salary when all things are considered.

Players further afield where a commute isn't possible will have to relocate, be that hotel and possibly away from family or by moving up as a family (where applicable). It's worth noting that we as fans don't ever think of the impact wives/kids can have in the uprooting side of things and the role the play in any players decision making. That scenario is more like to see a player demanding a wage or length of deal to make any uprooting worthwhile. I would find it interesting to see how many times we've missed out on a player because their value on this is higher than ours and we don't move on it.

Of all the factors, money will undoubtedly be the one that can produce the sway and the pull to mitigate any location factors. The problem is that with the exception of a few, this league has teams that are more likely to be in a similar financial position. With that in mind, does the possible small margins between salaries offered by Clubs bring geography into a bigger factor, as mentioned above in that the highest salary might not see the player better off financially.

These are just the everyday life variables and preferences that anyone would encounter if their profession dictated a need to be nationally available to work.

I do also think that reputation of the Club, their intentions and aspirations, reputation of the manager and all other things plays a part too. I'd argue this would be less important than the money, but for the ambitious aspiring footballer I think it could be more important than the location factor. The trick is finding those players and beating off the competition of other Clubs who will most certainly be looking at them too.

Are we over-egging location a bit? I think it plays a part but I think we're missing a major fact about why we struggle to attract players.

I know as fans we know all about our glorious history, but for about 20 years we've either been hanging around the L2 trapdoor or in non-League.

Old duffers like me know where we were before then but there's a whole generation of supporters and players who have grown up knowing us as, effectively, non-League minnows struggling to stay in the league.

Meanwhile teams like Burton are seen as established upper league teams.

The only way to fix this is to rebuild our reputation, and that is going to take some time. There are no shortcuts.

Fenty's legacy.

Yep, I agree. Only those who are at the tail end of their careers will remember us as anything other than a League 2/Conference side.

But that's the same for everyone at this level really. I was going to say with the exception of Bradford but they've sat at this level for an age.

There's no club we're competing with for players who've got a recent history to brag about, reputations better than ours perhaps when it comes to a more holistic approach.

What we're competing against is bigger cheque books and more convenient locations. Our offer needs to be a little bit different to give us a fighting chance. We won't spend and we don't accommodate the location of players, so it has be something that appeals that few others can.  I'd say at the minute it has to be positioning ourselves as a welcoming stepping stone. Someone like Dallas can come here, do well (and we do well out of him) in a shop window and we don't stand in the way of a future move.  Then we reinvest any profit, hopefully on someone a little bit better. So on and so on.

Going back to what JS said to Matt Dean, and what he said when 1878 took over; which was basically that running GTFC was going to be a quick learning curve for him, Andrew and Debbie as none of them had been involved with a football club before.

I wonder if it has come as a shock to him that none of the players they wanted to sign want to come to Grimsby. It is a shame that Matt Dean never asked why?