Chelston TUFC wrote: ↑02 Feb 2023, 19:15
Maybe a vision for the club, the draw of the manager, the plan for success and a competitive contract outweighs the location.....whilst there's a lot worse places to live than Torquay.
there's absolutely a player 'persona' (if you will) for whom playing at Torquay should have some appeal. We've seen plently of players over the yeras who've moved down with a young family and made it a long-term home. Realistically we're not going to be able to attract players who've been cast aside by 'good' teams in the big cities - they want the lifestyle and there's also a belief that they can make it back to the top, however unrealistic that may be.
however, we don't seem to have ever done a good job of explaining the appeals of living in South Devon. That may be unfair - I haven't been given the Big Sell, after all - but I'd guess that there's a far smaller number of players who are able to make it work here than would be able to in other parts of the world. Even playing in Halifax or Scunthorpe might be preferable for some, because the property prices in the Bay make buying unrealistic for many. There's a lot more the club could/should be doing that I don't think would necessarily bankrupt them, but that would require the kind of joined-up thinking that we've not done for decades. If at all.
I believe things have moved on in the pro game and not for the better, there will always be the majority of footballers who are journeyman, good enough to play in our league or possibly one higher, never going to get called up for the national team or make a big money move and that needs explaining to them at very young age, and probably more than once, do they want to be driving a mini cab at the end of their playing days or running some run down pub to make ends meet.
Undoubtedly you can make a living during your playing career but not enough to keep you in perpetual retirement, they are never going to be buying a block of flats from their signing on fee and then live off the rent.
For us specifically due to geography and lack of top wages to attract or even make good players give us a second look we need to add additional value to our contracts, back in the old days we owned houses in sherwell valley for our better players to stay in, we had directors who owned companies who could offer flexible apprenticeships based around the football calender, I remember my daughter who was at exeter uni a few years ago meeting a young exeter player who was studying law on a flexible learning package because his coach had the good sense to explain a few facts of life of his future prosects in the lower reaches of football.
