Brown could leave, Bridges could replace him

The close-season rumour mill is really kicking in now, and with Hartlepool fans just beginning to digest the "news" that James Brown could be on the way to Championship also-rans Norwich City, they've now been told that one of the Pools targets for the summer is former Premiership striker Michael Bridges.

There's nothing new in good players being linked with moves to other clubs and there's equally nothing new in players who used to be good being linked with a move to Pools.
But it remains to be seen whether either of these stories is true.
James Brown (left) has enough potential to earn a move to a bigger and better club than Norwich, if he moves at all.
Pools have shown in recent years that while every player has his price, that price has gone up significantly since the days when the club sold anybody as soon as a club with a few bob to spare came knocking on the door at the Vic.
So if Brown is to leave, we would hope that Pools are paid at least the £500,000 they got for Adam Boyd when he went to Luton, and it's doubtful if Norwich can afford such a fee or if they would be willing to risk it.
Meanwhile, the Hartley Poole Male tells us that a possible target for Danny Wilson during the summer is Michael Bridges, who is well out of favour with Hull City boss Phil Brown.
But while Bridges was a class act when he was at Sunderland and scored 19 premiership goals when he moved to Leeds for almost £5m, that was getting on for nine years ago.
Injury at Leeds set him back and he's had a few bad seasons since then to go with the few good ones early in his career. He's 31  30 in August and after costing Hull £350,000 from Carlisle, he won't be on peanuts.
Is he really the sort of player Pools need? The answer is yes if he can score goals as regularly as he did at Sunderland, Leeds and Carlisle.