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Our location a problem? I don't think so.
- Thread starter mervyn
- Start date
I applaud Mervyn championing our region in his original post. For me it is pretty special living down here, without a doubt. Sadly, I am unable to agree with his conclusion that our isolation is not a barrier to player recruitment.
I am a 'born and bred Devonian' who has left the region - and then returned - on several occasions. My father was in the navy, so we upped sticks when I was at junior school. We returned when I was at senior school. In my twenties I moved away to gain advancement in my career (there being none if I had stayed in Plymouth). I was fortunate enough to have benefitted from the move and I was able to return to Plymouth again in my thirties. Then, in my fifties, I had to leave once more to attend a training establishment near London for a career change (no such establishment existed in Plymouth, or Devon). Circumstances allowed me to return yet again (hopefully for the last time!) in my sixties and I am extremely happy to be back 'in God's country'. :thumbs:
My point is that on each occasion I have left Devon it is because of the absence of facilities, infrastructure, opportunities - call it what you will - that I needed at the time. The only place I could find them was elsewhere. If we turn that around and consider the footballer and his family who may already have all those things in their immediate vicinity (London clubs, Midlands clubs, Northern clubs) why would they need to uproot everything and come to the last EFL outpost in England?
Yes, of course we know how amazing it is down here and what a privilege it is to call this home, but think of a non-Devon based player and his family when faced with the choice of transferring to a club, say, 30 miles down the road or one several hundred miles away.
I appreciate there must be many examples of players who have made the jump to Argyle and then been seduced to the point of 'retiring' down here - but you have to get them to make the jump first! Not easy...
I am a 'born and bred Devonian' who has left the region - and then returned - on several occasions. My father was in the navy, so we upped sticks when I was at junior school. We returned when I was at senior school. In my twenties I moved away to gain advancement in my career (there being none if I had stayed in Plymouth). I was fortunate enough to have benefitted from the move and I was able to return to Plymouth again in my thirties. Then, in my fifties, I had to leave once more to attend a training establishment near London for a career change (no such establishment existed in Plymouth, or Devon). Circumstances allowed me to return yet again (hopefully for the last time!) in my sixties and I am extremely happy to be back 'in God's country'. :thumbs:
My point is that on each occasion I have left Devon it is because of the absence of facilities, infrastructure, opportunities - call it what you will - that I needed at the time. The only place I could find them was elsewhere. If we turn that around and consider the footballer and his family who may already have all those things in their immediate vicinity (London clubs, Midlands clubs, Northern clubs) why would they need to uproot everything and come to the last EFL outpost in England?
Yes, of course we know how amazing it is down here and what a privilege it is to call this home, but think of a non-Devon based player and his family when faced with the choice of transferring to a club, say, 30 miles down the road or one several hundred miles away.
I appreciate there must be many examples of players who have made the jump to Argyle and then been seduced to the point of 'retiring' down here - but you have to get them to make the jump first! Not easy...
“Place” is one of the four “p”s of marketing- and is crucial to any business, such as a football club.
But if it’s a problem - why not do what countless other businesses do: change the variable?
No: I’m not suggesting we play our games anywhere other than Plymouth- although that’s been tried by American football franchises, who view the concept of location as being mutable.
Instead we could consider moving our training base- to another location likely to appeal to our “ customer” ( who in our case would be footballers, average age 25 and immediate and extended families).
Where this could be would depend on a cost v benefit calculation. If you take a conservative approach it could be Exeter, Bristol, Bournemouth or slightly further afield: Cambridge.
Thinking on a slightly grander scale it could be Dublin or maybe Greater London or somewhere abroad ?Paris ?
The costs, difficulties and also potential benefits of this idea would be immense. So much so that many people might consider this to be a crazy idea. And, very possibly it is ....
But then again the difference between what one person considers to be ridiculous and stupid and what another person considers to be brilliant can be small indeed.
I’ve often thought that Argyle should use clubs such as RB Leipzig, who have shown that anything is possible .... as their role model. And if that is to be the case it may take an ambitious man to think big and run with crazy ideas ....
But if it’s a problem - why not do what countless other businesses do: change the variable?
No: I’m not suggesting we play our games anywhere other than Plymouth- although that’s been tried by American football franchises, who view the concept of location as being mutable.
Instead we could consider moving our training base- to another location likely to appeal to our “ customer” ( who in our case would be footballers, average age 25 and immediate and extended families).
Where this could be would depend on a cost v benefit calculation. If you take a conservative approach it could be Exeter, Bristol, Bournemouth or slightly further afield: Cambridge.
Thinking on a slightly grander scale it could be Dublin or maybe Greater London or somewhere abroad ?Paris ?
The costs, difficulties and also potential benefits of this idea would be immense. So much so that many people might consider this to be a crazy idea. And, very possibly it is ....
But then again the difference between what one person considers to be ridiculous and stupid and what another person considers to be brilliant can be small indeed.
I’ve often thought that Argyle should use clubs such as RB Leipzig, who have shown that anything is possible .... as their role model. And if that is to be the case it may take an ambitious man to think big and run with crazy ideas ....
I dont think we help ourselves though
We regularly sign players from the North who.dont settle
Surely there was a similar quality centre half in the south of England to Watts available? Why aren't we borrowing from Southampto Cardiff , Reading and the such academies
Look at Tanner from Reading area think given a choice he would have liked to stay and tbh is better than some of the players we currently have
Why aren't we looking in Somerset Wiltshire and Dorset as well as Devon and Cornwall
Mr Hodges came from Dorset and is our record appearance holder
We regularly sign players from the North who.dont settle
Surely there was a similar quality centre half in the south of England to Watts available? Why aren't we borrowing from Southampto Cardiff , Reading and the such academies
Look at Tanner from Reading area think given a choice he would have liked to stay and tbh is better than some of the players we currently have
Why aren't we looking in Somerset Wiltshire and Dorset as well as Devon and Cornwall
Mr Hodges came from Dorset and is our record appearance holder
mervyn":3hqzb42l said:
Just look at train timetables to see how much easier and quicker it is to get to London from Swansea, Norwich & Hull than here.
Tell you what, Mark58 and The Doctor have given me pause for thought. I moved down here in my mid thirties, the age at which I would have retired as a footballer. So, I have never viewed Devon through the eyes of a 20-30 year old. Time to reflect methinks. Thank you.
mervyn":3sutrruq said:
Agreed and I could have certainly made my point in a better way.
In my eyes our location has always been a problem and for Lowe to suggest it isn't just demonstrates to me that he really doesn't have a clue. Either that or as I've said earlier he's blatantly lying and just telling us what we want to hear.
Railway sleeper":1uqimxsc said:
Years ago on this very messageboard I made a semi-serious suggestion that Argyle ‘should’ locate their training base to the Birmingham area, travelling down to Plymouth ahead of home games and to participate in community activities. The idea was roundly condemned as being utterly crazy but whilst I certainly don’t WANT it to happen I’m not sure it is crazy at all from a footballing/recruitment perspective. A state-of-the-art training facility could include a gym and other leisure facilities that could also be open to the public at appropriate times and a hotel that could also be used as a base for the squad, players, their families etc as necessary.
Losing the Airport has not helped. Potential signings could be flown in and out as has previously happened.
I've flown from Plymouth to Gatwick on several occasions and could regularly reach Glasgow in not much more than 2 hours (including the stop at Newquay). I used to suppress a chuckle when talking to more centrally based people about travel and they would highlight a journey of 2 hours by road as being a bit of a trek, living down here, you become used to being 4 hours from anywhere.
There's definitely a 'Plymouth premium' to pay if wanting to attract the better players, but a few years as an established higher league club might help that.
I've flown from Plymouth to Gatwick on several occasions and could regularly reach Glasgow in not much more than 2 hours (including the stop at Newquay). I used to suppress a chuckle when talking to more centrally based people about travel and they would highlight a journey of 2 hours by road as being a bit of a trek, living down here, you become used to being 4 hours from anywhere.
There's definitely a 'Plymouth premium' to pay if wanting to attract the better players, but a few years as an established higher league club might help that.
The Doctor":1s310xb1 said:
Brexit has complicated the idea of overseas recruitment- but I’m not clever enough to know all the inns and outs involved in recruiting foreign players-like busacky, halmosi and times- or if indeed that’s possible anymore. But the benefits of being the only U.K. club whose training camp is based in continental Europe would be obvious - in terms of recruitment of foreign players. And whereas Plymouth as a destination might potentially discourage players and families, on the other hand which player / family would turn down the opportunity to live near Paris, for example ?
The same argument could be made for a base near Dublin- plus of course Argyle could tap into the youth development potential - as there is are no professional clubs there.
The big issue with both these ideas would be travel costs ..... but I liked your ideas about a hotel and training facilities.... that would be my line of thought also.
Like I said I fully accept that these are likely to be seen as crazy ideas by many people- and they are..... alternatively they could also be a way of shifting the paradigm and enabling the club to sustainably move up the leagues, and stay up the leagues.....
My views for what they are worth: location is massive without the vital transport links, as said before, 1 road in and out and thats an A road. 1 rail line in and out, and to go anywhere means changing a good few times. No airport, that says all it needs to.
We should be able to capitalize on the shear size of Devon and Cornwall but the problems as i see them are: when i was young it was drummed into you that football was not a career for someone down here, focus on your education. There is only 1 team and thousands upon thousands of locals wanting to play for them, good enough or not, if your not connected, you have no chance. The area is also much aligned to fishing industry, dockyard jobs and the Navy. These are the main focus of most, anything else requires moving away but there are options. In poorer locations, football is the only thing drilled into them by famipy etc. as a way out of poverty etc. And there are enough clubs in those areas to be able to do that, here there is only 1 club. On top of the club infrastructure there is the local facilities, now people may think we have a lot of playing fields, 3g courts etc. but having travelled around the country with my sons academy, i can tell you that other parts of the country have far more numerous playing courts, 3g pitches etc. Which are accessable to play on without paying. The idea being to keep them busy and away from crime. We dont have that here.
Shopping etc. A lot of people i know in Plymouth travel to Bristol, Swindon and Portsmouth for shopping, why? They have the designer villages etc. We have house of fraser. Thats pretty much it.
For a night out, most people leave Plymouth to go to Torquay, etc. Etc. Why, because they have the entertainmemt that we dont, all we get are pubs with fights and anything good closed down to make way for something else.
I can go on but i will leave it at that.
We should be able to capitalize on the shear size of Devon and Cornwall but the problems as i see them are: when i was young it was drummed into you that football was not a career for someone down here, focus on your education. There is only 1 team and thousands upon thousands of locals wanting to play for them, good enough or not, if your not connected, you have no chance. The area is also much aligned to fishing industry, dockyard jobs and the Navy. These are the main focus of most, anything else requires moving away but there are options. In poorer locations, football is the only thing drilled into them by famipy etc. as a way out of poverty etc. And there are enough clubs in those areas to be able to do that, here there is only 1 club. On top of the club infrastructure there is the local facilities, now people may think we have a lot of playing fields, 3g courts etc. but having travelled around the country with my sons academy, i can tell you that other parts of the country have far more numerous playing courts, 3g pitches etc. Which are accessable to play on without paying. The idea being to keep them busy and away from crime. We dont have that here.
Shopping etc. A lot of people i know in Plymouth travel to Bristol, Swindon and Portsmouth for shopping, why? They have the designer villages etc. We have house of fraser. Thats pretty much it.
For a night out, most people leave Plymouth to go to Torquay, etc. Etc. Why, because they have the entertainmemt that we dont, all we get are pubs with fights and anything good closed down to make way for something else.
I can go on but i will leave it at that.
P
Paranoid Android
Guest
If our location is such a bad thing, why are so many relocating here ? House sales and rentals are booming, the locals are getting priced out of their own towns. Everyone who moves down for the better life are by their own admission eventually condemning their kids to a struggle for a future and a life in an area they call home. The same area the parents moved to in the first place.
Once the kids have moved on to better things or somewhere with opportunities, does the location remain a problem for the parents or do they stay here ?
Once the kids have moved on to better things or somewhere with opportunities, does the location remain a problem for the parents or do they stay here ?