MANY of you may be cursing the current fortunes of our regional football teams lingering at or near the bottom of the Premier division, and feeling rather bleakly that their situation in some small way reflects our own. For aren’t the national (and might I add southern) media forever telling us how badly off we are up north with unemployment so high etc, etc.

Rather than repeat my frustration at those who persist in broadcasting a onesided and comprehensively gloomy picture of events at the expense of any positive stories to come out of this recession, I will instead tell you a story.

A radio station set up a phone-in competition to coincide with school sports days. The competition aimed to find the most competitive team or pupil, and the winner would receive a signed pair of Linford Christie’s running shoes.

When the competition was launched, the radio station was inundated with calls, all from eager young sportsmen keen to win their piece of athletics history.

All told of sporting prowess and outstanding achievement, except one call came that stood out from the rest.

The call was made by a little boy who, like his fellow competitors, claimed to be the most competitive of all the entrants.

However, unlike his rivals he had come last in every race he had ever entered.

Despite his continual setbacks, the boy insisted he was the most competitive of all the entrants. And his justification for saying this was that although he had come last so many times before, he had vowed that it would never happen again. He was using his previous failures to spur him on to success.

I don’t know whether the boy won his next race, but he did win the competition.

While I wouldn’t want to draw too many parallels between this story and our situation in the North-East, I feel strongly that, like the little boy, we can draw strength and determination from difficult times.

Our region’s history tells a story of struggle and achievement, and when the chips are down, the North-East spirit is to stand up and fight.

We should see any current difficulties as challenges to be successfully overcome.

Fear of failure can be a massive motivation for all of us and I encourage you to use it to your advantage.

■ James Ramsbotham is North-East Chamber of Commerce chief executive.