Jack Bridge signs for Northampton (2018)

[manor15]

According to PB in the Echo.

Good luck to him, never really given much of a chance here and Brown clearly isn't a fan. Would have been interesting to see if a new man would have given him a shot if he was still here for the rest of the season.

 

[Fairport]

According to PB in the Echo.

Good luck to him, never really given much of a chance here and Brown clearly isn't a fan. Would have been interesting to see if a new man would have given him a shot if he was still here for the rest of the season.

Yes agreed, it is now down to whose judgement was correct, Brown or Hasselbank.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

:sad:

Is he allowed to play Saturday?

 

[manor15]

Yes agreed, it is now down to whose judgement was correct, Brown or Hasselbank.

By the report in the Echo it looks like Dean Austin, whose assistant manager there and spent the second half of last season with the youth teams here, pushed for it. Given how highly Maher, Coughlan, etc have rated him, we will see.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

I've personally never seen enough of him to make a judgement although when I did I was never overly impressed to be honest.

Bridge to score the winner that gets PB sacked?

 

[LBBlue]

:sad:

Is he allowed to play Saturday?

Brown “I’m not sure when the deal will be completed but he won’t be playing for Northampton against us at the weekend whatever happens.”

I take that is a no! Brown has lot of faith in his judgement of players!​

 

[hamiltonblue]

I agree - good luck to him, Brown's always been quite clear on JB, he's been given plenty of opportunities, but it has been intimated that he has an attitude problem.

I hope that he flourishes at Northampton, sometimes a move is what it takes, I'm sure we could highlight a player who has done so during the tenure of every manager at Southend.

 

[wakes123]

Good luck Jack - will we get a fee?

 

[Ricky Otto]

I watched him a fair bit at Chelmsford and always said if he wasn't our player I would have been on here saying we need to sign him.
I was hoping a little bit that if Brown went he would get games with a new manager, I certainly think if Coughlan was to take over until the end of the season Jack would get a shot. Looks like that's out the window now, think we could regret this one big time

 

[EastStandBlue]

This is exactly the kind of move that lends more strength to the argument that player recruitment should be the duty of a more permanent fixture at the club, such as a Director of Football or Sporting Strategy Manager.

Brown's flogged a promising young player to what is essentially a relegation rival. That'd be more acceptable if it was likely that Brown would be here beyond May and get the opportunity to own that decision or judgement so to speak. If we get a poor result on Saturday and he gets the chop then what difference does it make to Brown if Bridge goes on to fulfil the potential others have identified?

 

[Evening Echo]

Blues midfielder Bridge set to join Northampton

SOUTHEND United midfielder Jack Bridge is set to join Northampton Town.

More...

 

[SUFCStu]

It had to be Northampton didn't it.....

 

[rigsby]

This is exactly the kind of move that lends more strength to the argument that player recruitment should be the duty of a more permanent fixture at the club, such as a Director of Football or Sporting Strategy Manager.

Brown's flogged a promising young player to what is essentially a relegation rival. That'd be more acceptable if it was likely that Brown would be here beyond May and get the opportunity to own that decision or judgement so to speak. If we get a poor result on Saturday and he gets the chop then what difference does it make to Brown if Bridge goes on to fulfil the potential others have identified?

Don't we have Brian Horton?

 

[cobblers]

Hi Shrimpers, I appreciate he has not played much for you but can you give us any idea of what sort of player he is? We are desperate for pace and width at the moment so I am desperately hoping hes a pacy wide man..

 

[Mick]

This is exactly the kind of move that lends more strength to the argument that player recruitment should be the duty of a more permanent fixture at the club, such as a Director of Football or Sporting Strategy Manager.

The tenures of people working for Ron in that sort of role (CEO, Commercial Director etc etc) seem somewhat ephemeral as opposed to permanent fixtures.

 

[fbm]

Hi Shrimpers, I appreciate he has not played much for you but can you give us any idea of what sort of player he is? We are desperate for pace and width at the moment so I am desperately hoping hes a pacy wide man..

No, he isn't.

 

[fbm]

I'm a big Jack Bridge fan but he has had several chances and has not taken any of them. In fact, I think I have seen all of his first team performances/cameos and he hasn't done anything of note at all.

That makes me sad, because there's nothing more I would like than for a true local lad to come good. But he has had the opportunities.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

I just think it's a sad indictment of our transfer policy. On the same day Chris Phillips tweeted about us having the oldest squad in the league, we let a 22 year old go.

Our current 'old' squad is hardly pulling up trees to warrant the 'needed' experience. Most of our players are past their peak with a limited few at their peak, which means the latter will be at the end of it soon. Players like Bridge have lots of time to get to their peak and yet we've let him go.

Granted, we have signed up a few youngsters this season to long contracts but that's probably more to do with the club than the manager.

He refuses to look at a younger players and players from the lower leagues. Everything is ego with him. "I want premier league players in my team, to play the way I want to play". He would never look at someone like Dan Lloyd-McGoldrick (signed by Peterborough from Stockport) who is currently having a great season. He won't see past this perceived idea of 'Phil Brown the premiership manager' and he'll only manage 'top players'. He needs to realise that he manages in the lower leagues and his transfer policy needs to reflect and embrace where he is. Just because someone played at a certain level once, doesn't mean they are at that standard now. You look at players like Prosser and Bolger, would they have been worse than Ferdinand and Turner? Who knows, but at least they are younger and have the desire to fight because they still have motivation. How can someone who is 34 that used to play in the premiership have true motivation in league 1?

I know there's a few strong opinions there but im sure most agree that something really has to change regarding our current transfer policy.

 

[manor15]

Hi Shrimpers, I appreciate he has not played much for you but can you give us any idea of what sort of player he is? We are desperate for pace and width at the moment so I am desperately hoping hes a pacy wide man..

More a creative player who plays as a number 10 behind a centre forward. Can play wide, but wouldn't say pace is his biggest asset and he tends to cut inside from wide rather than a traditional winger.

 

[Feathers]

This is exactly the kind of move that lends more strength to the argument that player recruitment should be the duty of a more permanent fixture at the club, such as a Director of Football or Sporting Strategy Manager.

Brown's flogged a promising young player to what is essentially a relegation rival. That'd be more acceptable if it was likely that Brown would be here beyond May and get the opportunity to own that decision or judgement so to speak. If we get a poor result on Saturday and he gets the chop then what difference does it make to Brown if Bridge goes on to fulfil the potential others have identified?

Jack Bridge is 22 so in footballing terms has gone past being a "promising young player" He has not had many games but when he has played he has never staked a claim or really done anything of note.

Jack Payne is only a year older but at 22 had established himself as a first team player and earned a move to a Championship club. From his very first performance Jack Payne stood out as someone who offered something different, someone who could change a game.

Dru Yearwood is a lot younger than Jack Bridge and whilst very raw you can clearly see he has something about him. It is no surprise he is ahead of Bridge in the pecking order despite being 4 years younger.

Bridge may well be talented but to date has not been able to transfer that onto the pitch. If he can do that at Northampton then good luck to him. He would not be the first player to benefit from a move away from Southend, Hooper and Kightly being the prime examples.