Why we struggle to compete...

Quoted from Brummie Codfather

Great thread this.

For my 2 pence worth I think NE council go after the wrong things.  From what I’ve seen they’re searching for one big thing to jumpstart the area and drive things forward.  Be it the precinct, the daft palm tree or another big cinema.  

Whats seemed to work in Birmingham is making it easy for small local companies to get a start.  It’s changed massively for the better in the 8 years I’ve lived here.  With old former industrial areas with tiny rents like Digbeth, or Stirchley full org local companies that are booming.  The locals all fervently back them and almost ensure their success because they’ve got a connection to the city.

The big external retail investments that NE council seem to want to go for are the areas of Birmingham that have been least successful.  Especially with the investment in big department stores in the city centre. Now they’re failing, the ground space is too big for any other store to take on and rents too high for the local firms so they go to other areas.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I get really drunk off with this kind of “ooh look at what they’re doing” thread.  

Looking over the fence and comparing our lot with incomparable situations at other clubs is pointless.

We had 20 years of decline under JSF and actually we’re on a decent road to recovery without 1878 waving their c0cks in the air shouting “look at us aren’t we great”.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

There always seems to be a factor that holds the town back and that is the lack of vision from the council, which has been the case for years regardless of the political make up of it.

Redevelopment in other cities and areas has always needed the local council to have a clear vision of what they want to achieve and that vision has always been ambitious and aspirational. Often a separate body has been formed to deliver the vision and not get bogged down in politics.

It feels 'very Grimsby' that the council are putting money into the precinct, flogging a dead horse rather than using the opportunity to think bigger.

I don't know if Grimsby's budget is smaller than equivalent areas or what.

An earlier poster suggested that the long term regeneration of the town may be tied to the future of the football club. That worries me...the football club can be a catalyst for change and can be a focal point for regeneration in a given geographical area but the regeneration of Grimsby can't be tied to a football club. It has come from a vision and an aspiration for the whole area.

Quoted from Captain Sensible

How else are you going to kick start a viable night time economy in the town?

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

Re-appoint Mike Newell?

Quoted from Mayaman

Used to go to Leeds in the 80's to buy records It was a rough as hell.  Get in, buy the vinyl and get out.  Went in the late 90's for a job interview.  It was a completely different place.   They'd revamped the old Victorian arcades. There was a buzz and people had jobs and any place that has folks with money in their back bin makes it a happier place.  Leeds is much better located than Gy but we have to start with what we are and where we are. We have to take more pride in the place. We can't even have a statue of our founder without it getting destroyed.  Gy has two great museums and Cleethorpes has a lot to offer , especially in the summer. I've lived in much worse places in the UK.  We need to big it up and stop the chavs and idiots destroying it and its reputation. Grimsby town centre needs revamping.  I am not sure how but we somehow need to revitalise it.