By Albatross
June 23 2003

"It's a funny old game" - and nothing better illustrates this than the fact that former Hartlepool boss Mike Newell has been appointed as manager of crisis club Luton Town. Though the Luton fans are more likely to be crying in their beer at this news.... It's possibly one of the most bizarre events involving a former Hartlepool Manager since Alan Murray ended up as caretaker at Benfica: after making the final three in the phone poll, he won the job almost by default when Joe Kinnear - the overwhelming choice by Luton fans - proved to be unavailable (apparently on Holiday) and Steve Cotterill ruled himself out.

It's an especially bizarre move by Newell to take the job on after the thinly-veiled hints he made about interference from the board at Hartlepool. Something tells me that if he expects John Gurney to give him a free rein, he's got another thing coming.

For those who've not been keeping an eye on what's been going on at Kenilworth Road, here's a quick summary. The situtation is highly confused at the moment, but the history is something like this....

Back on 20th May, it was announced that owner Mike Watson-Challis had agreed to sell the club to a mystery consortium. It didn't take long for the first sign of trouble: just three days later, Joe Kinnear and Mick Harford were sacked by letter. On the same day, rumours started circulating (later proved correct) that John Gurney was involved. Gurney had previously bought Bedford Rugby Club, and had at one point looked to sell them on to Coventry before eventually being bought out. It's fair to say Gurney isn't exactly popular with Bedford Fans - or their Board, who reckon they are still paying for the Gurney era - and the alarm bells were starting to ring.

Former Peterborough director Roger Terrell was announced as in temporary charge in the boardroom, but this didn't last long; by early June, Terrell and Lee Power - brought in to look after the footballing side of things - decided that this was not something they wanted to be involved in. Shortly after, Gurney emerged as "Chief Executive designate", and since then things have degenerated into farce - or at least it would be if there was anything funny in this. A phone vote was announced to decide the new manager, and claims and counter claims were made regarding the dismissal of Kinnear.

First of all Terrell looked set to take the blame; then Gurney claimed that former Northampton director Peter Miller had come in as an "adviser" and sent out the fateful letters - something that Miller denied. Since then there has been an almost constant stream of statements from Gurney that have only served to worry Hatters fans even more. Changing the name to London Luton to match the airport, plans to build a Racetrack to host Formula 1, providing them with the biggest income in Britain by building an underground Car Park for the Airport, buying Wimbledon FC and playing in Div1 next season (despite the fact it's impossible under Football League rules).... Add in that he has also revealed a big financial crisis at the club, meaning they are looking to drastically cut the budget for players, and it's no surprise that Luton fans are up in arms. Gurney has apparently even been told by the local police to stay away from the ground for his own safety!

This is the situation that Newell is walking into. For a man that claims to have been unhappy due to board interference, to take this job is perplexing: it's difficult to see Gurney et al adopting a "hands off" approach to the footballing side of things, even if it's limited to trying to renegotiate contracts.

Newell is also an unpopular appointment with the fans, although to be fair it's hard to tell how much of this is because he's not Joe Kinnear. Gurney is bizarrely claiming that Newell actually won the vote fair and square, although the evidence seems to point to him being the only one of the final three candidates prepared to take the job under the terms offered. Either way, it means (assuming he and the club last that long) that the matches between Pools and Luton will have an extra bit of spice this season.