Anthony Vickers - Images of Middlesbrough to blame for lack of recruitment?

The Gazette are fast becoming a bit of a joke again, sure they just put a story out the other day trying to create a rivalry with Huddersfield. All of their writers are completely out of touch with reality and are pretty much a PR machine for the club, especially Vickers.

The article is also a poor excuse for our failings too, the location didnt stop Juninho, Rav, Emerson etc from joining the club so why would it matter now?
 
Vickers responds on social media...

To be clear, *I* do not think Middlesbrough is a hellhole. I love it & am hugely proud of our industrial heritage as anyone who reads my output across various platforms will be well aware. But other people further afield do think that.
@untypicalboro
I love the bleak powerful Bladerunner majesty of the Ironopolis, especially at night and am proud that we built the world. But outsiders don't see that, or that Teesside is shaped by the hard work, spirit & resilience of the people not by architecture.
anthony vickers
@untypicalboro
·
34m
I did not suggest that our industry is the only reason or the main reason that people may not sign but take out the magic motivation of money to seal a deal and it becomes a factor, and in some cases a decisive one.
anthony vickers
@untypicalboro
·
34m
The bottom line is that Boro are not the draw they were a decade ago. They do not have the glamour or financial muscle now to see off rivals & that means all kinds of other factors come into play. The location & perception of the area included.
anthony vickers
@untypicalboro
·
34m
As I said, criticism of the town kicks in our fierce parochial pride and I have taken some flak but players don't feel about clubs as fans do. To them it is just a job and unless the wage is better than the going rate these things can make a difference.
 
Vickers article is basically a discussion that was held on the OneBoro forum a few days ago. He's virtually taken some of the quotes word for word and used them as his own. 😂
 
Of course teams paying the big money will attract the best players but there's so much more to the discussion than money and area.

Players will be attracted to a team who are moving in the right direction as well (which we don't seem to be at the moment). Get things right on and off the pitch and good players will want to come here.

By the way, our first signing of the summer has left London to come here along with his Instagram star of a wife. Doesn't fit the narrative that one though.

Perpetuating these stories only adds to the myth that we live in a hell hole, what if a potential signing googles Middlesbrough and reads that article? We should be selling the area rather than ripping it to shreds but that would take more original and creative thinking. Its far easier to rip off an Internet discussion as your own and claim it as another 'thought provoking piece'.
 
Uwefuchs said:
Vickers article is basically a discussion that was held on the OneBoro forum a few days ago. He's virtually taken some of the quotes word for word and used them as his own. 😂
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Its been talked about a lot on here too lately due to missing out on signings... I think he's just picked up on the consensus and published something he knows people are going to read to get some clicks and traffic to the site.

As for taking quotes and using them, if true, how lazy can ya get! Poor journalism all round really.
 
I think it’s more the fact that the article is trying to cover up the club’s persistent failings rather than criticising the area. The buck stops with Gibson, Bausor and co and they should be held to account.
 
We live in the area, we judge for what we know. Our perception outside of the area isn’t a pretty one

take hull for instance. My picture of hull in my head is it is a hell hole, I’m sure it isn’t and it has it nice areas. You wouldn’t convince me to go to them unless they paid the premium to do so mind.

it isn’t about what we think, it’s about people who are not from the area and what their perception is
 
Its obvious that a lot of clubs have the same problem, we can pay better than some but less than others.
We are less attractive than a lot of other options to some players and maybe its not worth the upheaval for them.

Is it really worth paying over the market value for some players who arent that good ?, I realise its always a risk whoever you pick up that that they may turn out to be a poor buy( more often than not).

The area is industrial eyesore ..gerraway
Its nicer on the outskirts of big cities or industrial areas... no kidding
Some like to live amongst surburban sprawl of a city so there is plenty of things to do entertaiment etc and work for their partners..... thats why theres so many people in citys ....

Stamping your feet because we cant compete for players isnt new, and even if we had a out of town sugar daddy, with FFP, money cant be thrown at it now.
 
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GazC_MFC said:
We live in the area, we judge for what we know. Our perception outside of the area isn’t a pretty one

take hull for instance. My picture of hull in my head is it is a hell hole, I’m sure it isn’t and it has it nice areas. You wouldn’t convince me to go to them unless they paid the premium to do so mind.

it isn’t about what we think, it’s about people who are not from the area and what their perception is
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What if you were offered a fantastic job in Hull and your potential new boss sold it to you as an exciting opportunity. What if they told you that you could live on the outskirts of Leeds so your girlfriend could shop in the designer shops to her hearts content.

What if you visited Hull and thought, hey its not actually a bad place this.

What if you thought that playing for Hull or working in Hull would give the chance to really progress your career?

We've attracted good players here in the past and I'm not talking about the Juninho/Ravanelli era either.

Players have come here for from Spain and South America when I'm sure they had good options elsewhere. Clayton chose Boro over Brighton, Karanka turned down the chance to live and work in London (with Palace to come here) and by all accounts he was on a very modest wage.

Of course the money is part of it with players but we aren't missing out on the best players in Europe here. We are seen as a struggling club at the moment which is just as much a factor as anything else in my opinion.

This isn't seen as a desirable place to live but I still believe we'd attract more players and better players if we were seen as promotion contenders.
 
Uwefuchs said:
What if you were offered a fantastic job in Hull and your potential new boss sold it to you as an exciting opportunity. What if they told you that you could live on the outskirts of Leeds so your girlfriend could shop in the designer shops to her hearts content.

What if you visited Hull and thought, hey its not actually a bad place this.

What if you thought that playing for Hull or working in Hull would give the chance to really progress your career?

We've attracted good players here in the past and I'm not talking about the Juninho/Ravanelli era either.

Players have come here for from Spain and South America when I'm sure they had good options elsewhere. Clayton chose Boro over Brighton, Karanka turned down the chance to live and work in London (with Palace to come here) and by all accounts he was on a very modest wage.

Of course the money is part of it with players but we aren't missing out on the best players in Europe here. We are seen as a struggling club at the moment which is just as much a factor as anything else in my opinion.

This isn't seen as a desirable place to live but I still believe we'd attract more players and better players if we were seen as promotion contenders.
Click to expand...

the area isn’t the only reason why people won’t be coming. Like you allude to promotion contenders helps you mitigate other factors about living here etc

the thread was created saying that the area wasn’t really a factor and I was just addressing that rather than anything else

they’ll be many factors in a players decision. You need to put them altogether at once and that’s what a player will decide to do

To pick up on your shopping. Leeds to hull is a decent commute, I might be able to get shopping with less commute. It depends who’s in for me doesnt it.
 
ticker_tape said:
Karanka came here because of the reputation of Chairman and what he achieved with his football club.
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So the project attracted Karanka (as people now like to call it).

Basically the current project isn't as appealing to players which isn't really factored into the area article.
 
When we look at foreign players and managers, they probably wont have the preconceived misconceptions about the area. So will probably approach the job with an open mind. Equally they know they are going to be at a club for a certain duration of time before moving again.
I think there is a difference between a young player and an older player. An older player may be influenced by the manager and his philosophy and buy into a project, younger players need to feel more comfortable for the living standards locally, unless they are on a high income they may not be able to commute from further afield.
 
It’s just simply the Gazette doing propaganda for the club. It’s no different to when the club released the Gazette attack dogs on Orta with lines fed by the club, to protect Gill, Bausor, etc.

Factors such as:
• What’s the salary
• Which clubs is it / what league is it
• Will I play first team football
• Who’s the manager
• Do they have a good chance of winning the league/promotion/trophy/etc

I’d imagine location probably comes next.

I can’t imagine we’re ticking many of those boxes for location to be a factor. We couldn’t get George Friend to stay and he loved the area.

The finances are the main issue, but Gibson spaffed all the proceeds from promotion on absolute dross so that’s on him.
 
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