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He'd previously had a short spell at Hartlepool but was sacked just as they won promotion. Their form had dipped and it was mainly the results under previous manager Chris Turner that saw them move up a division.
In the summer of 2003 he arrived at Luton in very strange circumstances. The club was in turmoil, some bloke with no money had taken over, and the Chief Executive of Northampton Town had sacked previous boss Joe Kinnear.
They then incredibly allowed the fans to vote for a new manager. They voted for Kinnear to return but the bloke with no money managed to avoid all their demands. He offered it to Steve Cotterill who took one look and said 'No thanks'. Newell was next and he accepted the job.
The first season they finished in mid-table but in his second season Luton won the League One title with 98 points and joined the Championship. They started both seasons very well but faded away. The 2005/06 season saw a mid-table finish but last season the drop in form was so dramatic that only the Leeds points deduction kept them away from bottom place.
It cost Newell his job, or did it? He went on his anti-bungs campaign but then was found to be taking a slice of all deals out of Luton. He sold most of their best players only for the fans to learn after his departure that there was no need to sell them. He attacked a woman assistant referee claiming women had no place in the game and you can add to that a series of attacks on the chairman of the club.
He's been linked with a number of jobs since leaving Luton, but as yet the former Everton and Blackburn striker remains out of work. Still living in the north west he's the first, and it is very surprising it has taken five days, to claim to want the job.