Michael Bridges laughs when I ask if, 15 years after he illuminated Brunton Park with brilliant performances for Carlisle United, he wishes he could get his boots on and do it all again.
“Christ, I don’t miss playing at all,” the former striker says. “Not a chance. Them days are done. Having a kickaround, five-a-side is just about ok, but it’s not on my to-do list any more...”
The memories of Bridges starring in a blue shirt, not to mention performing impressively in the Premier League with clubs such as Sunderland and Leeds United, are still sweet and fresh, but he is 43 now and in the early stages of a coaching and managerial career which has given him different perspective on the game.
“One thing I can’t do any more since becoming a coach,” says Bridges, who is head coach of Australian team Edgeworth Eagles, “is enjoy watching football. You can’t just sit back with a drink and watch it a as fan. I analyse every single thing I see.
“It’s actually taken the joy out of football, but it’s given me a whole new dimension, to analyse what would I be doing in that situation – how could I affect it, what would I change? Bit sad, but that’s because I’m a coach and it’s what I want to do.”
Bridges’ life in Australia sees him combine Premier League media punditry with his role with Edgeworth, who play in the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW. He is currently back in England for an extended break with wife Kate and children Riley and Sadie, an overdue trip to see family given the past two years of Covid restrictions, and also a chance to watch some football back in his native land.
He has already been to Leeds’ Elland Road and Newcastle’s St James’ Park, two of the major stadiums where he played. A trip to Brunton Park is on his agenda, while he has also checked in on ex-Blues team-mate Paul Thirlwell at Harrogate Town and old friends Graham Fenton and Lee Picton at South Shields.
It is a nostalgic trip for Bridges, particularly as he can show his kids where he used to perform, but also an educational tour of different football levels as he considers his future in the game.
Bridges applied for the Carlisle job when there were recent vacancies and was interviewed by the club before Chris Beech’s appointment in 2019. His role in Australia, he says, has whetted his appetite to see how far he can go as a coach or manager.
“Coaching stirs the blood,” he says. “The brain’s always ticking over. The game of football’s in my DNA. And you don’t go through all your badges without wanting to get to the top end of the game.
“One thing I really like to do is remember the coaches I’ve played under, what managers I’d have run through a brick wall for. I try to embrace that. Some managers don’t build relationships – they see you as a piece of meat. I love mentoring, seeing the dynamics of a team, figuring out what you can do when you build relationships with players and staff.”
Bridges as a player was revived under the focused young manager Paul Simpson and the experienced, wisecracking assistant Dennis Booth at Carlisle, who signed him from Bristol City in 2005 and watched the former top-flight star, whose career had been sabotaged by injuries, outclass opponents as the Blues won League Two.
Is there a place for a bit of Booth in Bridges’ coaching profile? He smiles. “Maybe not as head coach. Assistant – definitely. I like to have a bit of ying and yang. Simmo was the serious one, Dennis was the lunatic. I made sure when I got the job [at Edgeworth] that I had a bit of a sensible lunatic with me; somebody that could break the ice and defuse situations like Dennis could. You can’t be the laugher and joker when you’re the head coach.”
Bridges says his club aspires to reach the Australian B-League and, despite his elite playing past, enjoys the part-time aspect. “Some lads are working hard all day and then training three nights a week, and you have to make it enjoyable,” he says. “I’m probably the one that opens the training ground gates and the one who flicks the floodlights off at the end of the day.
“I know I’m making myself better equipped. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.”
Bridges says he was pleased to be in the conversation at Carlisle last time, when he discussed the head coach job with director of football David Holdsworth two years ago. “It’s nice to know I’ve played a part in Carlisle’s history and it was nice to have some form of being in the running,” he says. “I just took a lot of experience from it so I know how I can best prepare for the next one.
“I know what I want to do. I’ve got a job over there in Australia, but if the right opportunity came up [in England] and it ticked all the boxes for myself and the family, it’s on the to-do list.
“I know what I’ve achieved as a player means absolutely nothing,” he adds. “It’s what you start doing as a coach, and what you learn in that regard. I know I’m all geared up. People like Steven Gerrard have gone quickly into management and he’s taken to it brilliantly. But there’s always more you can learn. I’ve seen the game at different levels and I’ll be ready to strike when I’m given the nod.”
Does Bridges worry that coaching in Australia keeps him out of certain clubs’ eyes when they draw up shortlists? “Oh, without a shadow of a doubt,” he admits.
“Probably the most successful coach from Australia is Ange Postecoglou. He won the league with Brisbane, did well at Melbourne Victory, won the Asian Cup with Australia for the first time and went to Japan with Yokohama Marinos. One of the Sunderland directors rang me and said he was in for their job, and said, ‘Who is this guy?’ I was, like, ‘How come you’ve never heard of him?’
“That’s when the alarm bells rang. I told Sunderland they should have got him, because he’s a serial winner. They went for Chris Coleman instead. Postecoglou went on to win the J League and now he’s at Celtic.
“So it does worry me. I know I’ve got a name in England, but it’s very tough for people to see the games at our level.”
Bridges will always be familiar to supporters of Carlisle United, who remember his mesmerising input into their 2005/6 season. He scored 15 goals – several of them spectacular – and embellished a team Simpson had already set on a positive course.
When he drives back across to Cumbria this winter, what memories will return? “Ah,” he says, “so many. The promotion party at the ground [after United sealed the title at Stockport]. Some of the goals…one of my favourites was at Northampton [a brilliant volley in a 3-0 win] when we knew we were up, pretty much.
“Seeing the ground packed for games against the likes of Grimsby towards the end. Fond memories of running off and celebrating with the fans. Another thing I loved was the dynamics with all the players, staff and board. Everybody was in a collective. And the fans embraced everything we did.”
Bridges recalls more great moments, like his inspired solo goal against Chester, and an elegant strike in front of a teeming away end at Darlington. “Chester was my most memorable, dancing through. When I have a little watch back, I still think, ‘How the hell did I actually manage that?’ It’s nice to be able to show the kids what their dad could do then….things he can’t do now that he’s an old man…”
Bridges spoke to Simpson recently and was glad to know his old manager has come through the trials of kidney cancer successfully. “Lummy [Chris Lumsdon] set up a WhatsApp group for all the Carlisle lads,” he adds. “It was meant to be a sort of reunion group, but it’s just an absolute sledge-fest. Everybody takes the mick out of each other non-stop.
“We’re trying to get a reunion together and hopefully that’ll happen sometime. You always remember the teams you had success with, because normally those sets of players are very ‘together’ groups. I experienced that with Sunderland when we got promoted with Peter Reid and Mick McCarthy, and when we got promoted at Carlisle with Simmo and Dennis.
“What I remember about that team is we had a bit of everything – flair, a goalscorer in Karl Hawley, someone in Homer [Derek Holmes] where there was no animosity if you weren’t playing, a tough nut in Kev Gray, a speed demon in [Simon] Hackney, a ball player in Lummy, Ceebs [Chris Billy] who broke up all the play…everybody knew their roles and had a part to play. It was fantastic.”
Bridges returned for a second spell at Carlisle in 2008/9, before making Australia his permanent home. These years later his social media accounts still trill with notifications from Carlisle fans who enjoy reminding him of the glory days, and how good he was to watch.
“It’s great when you get recognised for anything you do – even more so when it was a place where I got my career and own headspace back to actually enjoying the game again,” he says.
“I saw myself as an entertainer. There was nothing better for me as a [Newcastle] supporter seeing people like Chrissy Waddle and Peter Beardsley. When they got the ball, you heard the chairs going around the stadium because people were standing up. If I had the ball and heard chairs going, I knew people were there for a reason – to be entertained.
“For the fans at Carlisle to cheer me on and give me the confidence to play that kind of football that I’d probably lost for a couple of years, with injuries and going here, there and everywhere, lost in the footballing wilderness, I’ve got nothing but admiration for them.
“I went there to get my love of the game back. That’s what Lummy and Simmo promised me. I helped Carlisle on the field, and Carlisle helped me on and off the field. I’m forever grateful and I’ll always hold the place in high regard.”
Bridges stresses that he would love to return again one day. In the meantime, he keeps an eye on their attempts to improve in League Two under Keith Millen. “He seems to have settled the ship, which is good to see, with a couple of clean sheets and a couple of goals,” he says.
“Hopefully that’s a confidence booster and they can move away from that bottom end of the table – and hopefully the fans can buy into him [Millen], get behind him and try and make it not a toxic environment but an atmosphere where the boys want to go out and believe fans are going to cheer them on.
“I know what that togetherness is like. That’s something the club can survive on.”
When Bridges does head back to Cumbria, he will inevitably seek out the former Sunderland team-mate who persuaded him to give the Blues a try. “I’m looking forward to seeing Ginger Pan Face,” he says of Lumsdon. “He’s always got a few stories to tell.”
What about returning the favour? “Okay,” he chuckles. “He’s an absolute lightweight. He always gave it the big talk, always said he was a big drinker, but I called him the ‘plantpot feeder’. He used to love tipping a few beers away and hiding them from the lads. If ever there were any plants wilting in the background, you knew Lummy had been getting rid of his alcohol so he could last the night.
“I used to follow him to the toilets to make sure he wasn’t tipping his vodka, lime and lemonades down urinals. He also kept a sunbed shop in Killingworth in business. He was the most tanned freckly lad I’ve ever known. Remember the Ready Brek man, with the glow? That was Lummy around Carlisle.”
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