Mike Newell (footballer)

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Mike Newell (footballer) bigraphy, stories - English footballer and manager

Mike Newell (footballer) : biography

27 January 1965 –

Michael Colin "Mike" Newell (born 27 January 1965) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is without a club.

As a player he notably was a member of the Blackburn Rovers team which won the Premier League in 1995, as well also playing for Crewe Alexandra, Wigan Athletic, Luton Town, Leicester City, Everton, Birmingham City, West Ham United, Bradford City, Aberdeen, Doncaster Rovers and Blackpool between the years of 1982 and 2001. Newell totalled £3,585,000 in transfer fees over the duration of his career. As a manager he has had spells with Hartlepool United, Luton Town and Grimsby Town.

Honours

Player

Wigan Athletic

  • Freight Rover Trophy
    • Winner: 1985

Everton

  • Full Members Cup
    • Runner-up: 1991

Blackburn Rovers

  • FA Premier League
    • Champion: 1994-95
    • Runner-up: 1993-94
  • FA Charity Shield
    • Runner-up: 1995
  • Football League Second Division
  • Play-Off Winner: 1992

Doncaster Rovers

  • Conference League Cup
    • Winner: 2000

Blackpool

  • Football League Division Three
    • Play-Off Winner: 2001

Manager

Hartlepool United

  • Football League Division Three
    • Runner-up: 2002-03

Luton Town

  • Football League One
    • Champion: 2004-05

Controversies

Corruption allegations

Newell caused a huge stir in the footballing world, when he claimed that corruption was rife in transfer deals. In particular, he claimed that he had been offered "bungs" or bribes by football agents and agreed to name the offending parties when called upon by the FA. As a result, an enquiry was launched by the FA and was headed by Lord Stevens, a former Metropolitan Police commissioner. On 20 December 2006, Stevens presented his preliminary report, which found that, although the level of corruption within English football was not a high as had been anticipated, there were several causes for concern. 17 transfer deals were still subject to further scrutiny.

Following a match against Queens Park Rangers on 11 November 2006 Newell criticised female assistant referee, Amy Rayner, using so-called sexist comments, and later apologised. He also criticised the chairman of Luton Town FC, Bill Tomlins. For this he was reprimanded by his club, which publicly dissociated itself from the comments concerning Rayner.

Following a match against West Bromwich Albion on 12 January 2007 Newell criticised the influence of foreign players in English game, stating that it was "going soft." This was after an incident in which Luton midfielder David Bell appeared to be fouled, play continued and West Brom went on to not only equalize minutes before the end, but to claim a last gasp winner to leave Luton empty handed.

In February 2010, five months after Newell’s sacking from Grimsby Town, he began court proceedings to sue Grimsby and John Fenty, claiming he was owed £53,845.61 in loss of earnings as well as claiming a drunk Fenty had slammed a chair on the floor and pulled on Newell’s tie following his final game in charge.http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/02/27/ex-everton-fc-striker-mike-newell-suing-grimsby-town-fc-100252-25925050/ The two parties eventually settled out of court and agreed on a sum of £5000, with Newell’s eventual reason for being sacked revealed as gross misconduct.http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/Grimsby-Town-pays-manager-Mike-Newell-163-5k-compensation-sacking/article-2526362-detail/article.html

Playing career

Newell represented 13 different clubs in his career, playing a total of 530 league games and scoring 120 goals. While playing for Blackburn against Rosenborg in the 1995–96 season, Newell scored the fastest-ever hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League, netting his three goals in a spell of only nine minutes. This was a "Perfect Hat-Trick", meaning he scored the goals with his right foot, left foot and head. He also scored Blackburns only goal in their 2-1 defeat against Rosenborg at Lerkendal in the UEFA Champions League the same year.