Bridges: Not all the water has flowed

All of Impdom still has Michael Bridges on their lips. Surely with 4 great strikers on the books we do not have room at the Inn let alone the budget for a former Leeds, Sunderland and Hull hitman? His injury history is a bit of a worry too.


Many Imps have felt that the Howe or Bridges saga may have seen one a smokescreen to tempt the other, with the Imps getting the best man in the end. Howe is young dynamic and enough of a handful to worry any defender in the bottom two leagues at least. Bridges on the other hand would have been an expensive gamble his track record not dissimilar to a pendulum. It swings from glory to the treatment room according to Leeds and Sunderland fans weary of a sicknote. Yet Bridges played 30 games last year for Carlisle and only the year before got to the final of the Asians Champions league with Sydney. He clearly is no has been.

Darlington, well one of their fans at least, feels he will be theirs. Today or tomorrow they will be given the all clear to rejoin the league and receive their golden share, which in all fairness they treat like a library ticket. This time though Darlo will not be the overpaying fools of the past with both the League and HMRC eying every move. The taxman is coming down hard on teams now with Bournemouth to name but one having to submit monthly accounts to prove solvency.

As for Bridges, he is without a club with just 3 days to kick off. Shrews were the last to drop out of the race to sign him, choosing the cheaper Nathan Elder from Brentford, themselves crippled with debt, instead. So where does this leave Bridges and the Imps? According to the local Newspaper we have lost interest. Opinions vary. The only offer sat before Bridges and his agent has the LCFC crest at the top of the letterhead. And as of Saturday we were giving him until the end of the transfer deadline to decide. Clearly things change fast in football. Peter Jackson also told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that Howe would be his last signing of the summer:

“That’s it. Obviously the budget has gone now. I’ve reduced the size of my squad and obviously money is really tight.”

But he also said this time last week that we could not afford Howe and look what happened. Consider this too, would the Imps turn down an extra 500 at least on the gate if he signed? A fit Bridges would be better PR value for the Imps than a fans numbers coming up on the lottery. Both are flights of fancy, but you never know in football.