The Location Issue

It’s definitely money over location. A good length of contract with a decent wage and signing on fee and players will sign. Simples.
You’re not telling me Barrow is a nicer place than GY. It’s almost irrelevant anyway, hardly any players live local. Sheffield, Leeds even York and Harrogate are commutable for players.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

It can't be that bad a location for all prospective signings

If you look back over the years there's been a fair few players who have signed for us and then they've settled in the area ( Disley & McKeown spring to mind of late )

If you're a young single lad playing for Town maybe they don't think there's that much in the area, but like everything in life, it's what you make of it

Where we are is no worse than Barrow or Hartlepool for example - maybe we just need to give the area a bit of a harder sell to get players committed to N E Lincs

UTM

Been quite a few that have settled in the area, Alan Buckley, David Smith, Neil Woods, Graham Rodger to name a few

A fresh coat of paint on all the properties on Cleethorpe Road between
Riby Square and Park Street might just help.

If a potential signing drove over with his wife/partner he might have his mind
made up for him by the time they reached Blundell Park.

Quoted from Caveman

A fresh coat of paint on all the properties on Cleethorpe Road between
Riby Square and Park Street might just help.

If a potential signing drove over with his wife/partner he might have his mind
made up for him by the time they reached Blundell Park.

Agree that the approach from the A180 isn't the best

But why not then leave via Great Coates and come to Town along Laceby Road, Weelsby Road, Clee Road etc..... it's a more attractive route to take to BP

forgive me if am wrong, but don't Barrow train in Liverpool or Manchester?

it is an interesting point though. does the location make any difference? or is it just the financials plain and simple? players are comfortable where they are and cant be doing with the hassle of moving.

the point made in a different thread about players housing i think is a great point and surely would add to the attractiveness of any package offered to a player. "we have a house for you and your family / we have shared house (obviously not for families!) for you to move straight in to so that it eases the pressure on you for a short period".

Location may be a factor in some players eyes but I feel it’s more a case of us being pretty crap for nigh on 20 years , having a chairman who had a reputation for being a skin flint , a run down ground and training facilities and up until recently only offering one year deals .
As others have said,offer the players you really want more money than anyone else and a 2/3 year deal and they’re more likely to come .

I can see the attraction of life around here when you are thinking of settling down and building a family but but I can also see how living and working in Manchester for example would be an attraction for 20-something year old single bloke.

It is a short career and money talks too. £50 a week night not change someones mind but £150-200 ought to. I'm not saying we go out and spend ridiculous money on wages here, but I wonder what premium we would have to pay for location to not be important.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Agree that the approach from the A180 isn't the best

But why not then leave via Great Coates and come to Town along Laceby Road, Weelsby Road, Clee Road etc..... it's a more attractive route to take to BP

That's the route Bill Carr used to bring the players and their wives when he was Chairman.

Essentially it all comes down to wages. If we pay less than players expect then we need to up it. If the wage is ‘OK’ we probably have to pay a bit more to get it over the line for fuel, accomo expenses etc.

Quoted from Captaincod

Location may be a factor in some players eyes but I feel it’s more a case of us being pretty crap for nigh on 20 years , having a chairman who had a reputation for being a skin flint , a run down ground and training facilities and up until recently only offering one year deals .
As others have said,offer the players you really want more money than anyone else and a 2/3 year deal and they’re more likely to come .

As we've heard about Amond, Arnold etc.  Maybe another factor (but highly unlikely), is it was mentioned that when some of the new players came (previous transfer windows) that they did there own research on PH and one thing that was mentioned a few times was PH expects the players to work hard.  Just wondering if this will put off some players (maybe the lazy ones lol).