OPI N ION
ANDY PRESTON,
FOUR YEARS BEFORE BECOMING
MIDDLESBROUGH’S MAYOR, WINTER 2015
“Middlesbrough can have an amazing future as a
vibrant, prosperous technology hub of national
importance. We already have some of the
ingredients we need to become a tech town. We are
uniquely positioned to do something really special
here.”
STEVE COCHRANE MBE,
PSYCHE OWNER, SUMMER 2015
“In retirement I’ll spend my time working! I don’t
think I’ll ever retire. I’m inspired by a good friend of
mine, Alastair Powell of Cleveland Cable Company.
He is 63 this year and still expanding. He has no
intention of retiring and I think I’ll go the same way.”
Steve Cochrane
Mike Matthews
MIKE MATTHEWS MBE,
THEN PRESIDENT OF NEECC, AUTUMN 2015
“I was doing alright in my apprenticeship. I started
off poorly but finished off strongly and won Most
Improved Apprentice of the Year – note it wasn’t
Apprentice of the Year. I was crap in the beginning.”
Talk of
Eugene McCoy
The Tees region’s business leaders are never short of a quote.
Here, we take a look back through five years of Tees Business
at some of the best quotes from our interviews with those who
make the local business scene tick.
CHRIS PETTY, MANAGING DIRECTOR,
CORNERSTONE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS,
WINTER 2015
“I was a nightmare at school. I didn’t fit in. I got
picked on because I was small, so I took up
boxing. And I was a bit of a good boxer. I’ve got
an amazing right hook!”
Shab Mehdi
JOANNE MCCUE, WATTFITNESS OWNER
AND FORMER WIFE OF DUNCAN
BANNATYNE, SPRING 2016
“Duncan liked London life, he liked fame and he
liked girls who like people with loads of money.
Because he was wealthy and becoming famous,
it was a toxic combination. Duncan craved
recognition. If I’d wanted that too then maybe
I’d have stuck with him through thick and thin,
but that wasn’t for me.”
EUGENE MCCOY,
CRATHORNE ARMS, SUMMER 2016
“I absolutely adore the restaurant industry. I love
restaurants, I love food, I love wine – too much!
– and I love people. And it’s people that make
restaurants.”
28 | Tees Business
SHAB MEHDI, MSV, AUTUMN 2016
“The UK’s textiles hub is Manchester but the
people I deal with in Madrid, Seville, Vienna,
Rotterdam, Basel and Stuttgart think it’s
Middlesbrough because I’m always telling them
about the place. I’m like Boro’s special envoy!”
MARTIN GILBEY, MIDAS, AUTUMN 2016
“My biggest frustration about Teesside is the
people who get hung up with the negatives.
The mentality of ‘This is how it’s always been.
There are no opportunities. We can’t get a job’.
There’s a big gulf between the doers and those
who won’t.”
JOHN BRUIJNOOGE, SABIC TEESSIDE SITE
DIRECTOR, SPRING 2017
“There are always threats and challenges along
with the opportunities. But I thrive when I have
a challenge and only lose concentration when I
no longer feel there are major opportunities for
improvement.”