Michael Newell (born January 27 1965, Liverpool, England) is an English football manager and former player currently in charge at Luton Town F.C. who he also played for in the late 1980s.
Playing career
Mike Newell represented 13 different clubs in his career, playing a total of 530 league games and scoring 120 goals, overall he totalled £3,585,000 in transfer fees. While playing for Blackburn against Rosenborg in the 1995-96 season, Mike scored the fastest hat-trick ever in the UEFA Champions League, netting his three goals in a spell of only nine minutes.
Managerial Career
Mike Newell replaced Chris Turner as manager of Hartlepool United mid-way through the 2002/2003 season and despite ensuring Hartlepool got promoted, he was removed from the position of Hartlepool United manager. In the summer of 2003 he was appointed Manager of Luton Town by controversial chairman John Gurney, who had purchased the club from the previous owners for £4 then sacked popular management team Joe Kinnear and Mick Harford. It was widely reported that Mike Newell won a Pop Idol style poll to become manager but truth be told he was offered and signed a contract before the "results" were announced. Newell was not a popular man at Luton for a few weeks but it soon became clear that he wasn't just the chairman's puppet. The club soon went into administrative receivership and John Gurney was removed from power to be replaced by Barry Ward, an Insolvency Specialist. Due to the financial problems the club were severely restricted in terms of squad capacity having to make do with 20 senior pro's.
Honours
MANAGER
Luton Town
- Football League One: 1st, promoted
- 2004/05
Hartlepool United
- Football League Two: 2nd, promoted
- 2002/03
PLAYER
Blackburn Rovers
- FA Premier League: 1st
- 1994/95