Lincoln City could very well be in pole position to sign Michael Bridges after his rumoured tour around Shrewsbury Town's New Meadow ended with them not being able to match an offer by the Imps.
Much like Lee Ridley, Anthony Elding and various others, Peter Jackson appears to be targeting the long term targets of the club that were set long before he was here. Bridges has been on City's radar since the days of Schofield and Deehan but has never really looked likely to join the club, especially after joining Hull in 2006 for £350,000 from Carlisle.
Having played for Newcastle, Bolton, Sunderland, Leeds and various other Premiership clubs, any team at this level getting Bridges can be considered a coup.
However, the Imps have recently encountered complications in trying to bring him to Sincil Bank. He failed to earn a deal at Norwich and it appeared likely that Sincil Bank was his destination. Rumours have recently surfaced though that he has attracted the interest of Shrewsbury and Darlington, including rumours that he had gone to Shrewsbury yesterday.
We will stress that this is specifically rumour but it appears as though his move to City might be back on as Shrewsbury would not only involve him re-locating, but also alledgely couldn't match our offer.
Its between us and Darlo apparently. Think we'll find out Monday.
Apparently we've in 'positive' talks with Rene Howe again.
Mr fry must be getting twitchy!
Wouldnt mind either of Ben May or Jon Forte who played for Scunny against us last night.
He'd probably have to move to come to Shropshire. I don't know where he lives, but it is 2 hours from here to Bradford. To do that, I would want quite a bit of security and that may mean a 3 year contract.
I doubt if Shrewsbury couldn't match any Lincoln offer, just that they offered what they thought he was worth to them. In return, that probably wasn't as much as he thought it would take to play for them.
The other issue with Darlington, if you are a player that wants to enjoy his last few years in football, is are they going to start the season with minus points? Even if they don't will they be fighting in the lower half of the table anyway? And that is conveniently forgetting their historical inability to pay their players and the half-empty stadium you would be playing in every other week.
Finally, to make a positive out of a negative, while he is obviously (and perfectly understandably) hedging his bets and waiting for the best offer he can get, he hasn't turned us down, even while he was on trial at Norwich. Having watched us against Arsenal he could easily have said thanks for the Prawn Sandwiches, but no.
Fair points both. My turn of phrase doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Shouldn't have posted after downing a nice bottle of White Burgundy all to myself.
Lesson learned.
That said, I still think the thrust holds up. I would rather play in the atmosphere generated at Sincil Bank, or even the New Meadow than at Darlington. I would imagine it has the feeling of playing for a Reserve Team every week.
cherryexile Fair points both. My turn of phrase doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Shouldn't have posted after downing a nice bottle of White Burgundy all to myself.
Lesson learned.
That said, I still think the thrust holds up. I would rather play in the atmosphere generated at Sincil Bank, or even the New Meadow than at Darlington. I would imagine it has the feeling of playing for a Reserve Team every week.
Thats ok mate I think I knew what you meant!
O the joys of a few light ales while posting
Monday is D-Day by all accounts for both Bridges and Howe.
We are currently less than 1 hour from where he lives too that always helps.
Fingers crossed hey?
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