Mike Newell

Michael Colin Newell (born 27 January 1965) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player he was a striker and represented 13 different clubs in his career, playing a total of 530 league games and scoring 120 goals. He was a member of the Blackburn Rovers team which won the Premier League in 1995, and in a game against Rosenborg in the 1995–96 season, Newell scored (what was at the time) the fastest-ever hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League, netting his three goals in a spell of only nine minutes. Newell also played 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. Playing career Newell played for Liverpool's youth teams as a schoolboy, but was released without being offered an apprenticeship. He made three league appearances for Crewe Alexandra in 1983 before signing for Wigan Athletic of the Third Division in October of that year. After scoring 25 goals at this level, Newell moved up to the First Division in January 1986 when he joined Luton Town for £85,000. On 26 October 1986, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 league win over Liverpool – the defending double winners and the dominant English league side of that time. Early in the 1987–88 season, he dropped down a division to sign for Leicester City, now managed by David Pleat - the man who had signed him for Luton two seasons earlier.