I'M HAPPY AT LUTON - NEWELL
BY JON DALE
10:30 - 16 October 2004
Mike Newell has stressed he is happy at Luton after the latest speculation linking him with Leicester City.
The former Leicester striker immediately emerged as one of the bookmakers' front-runners for the manager's job following Micky Adams' resignation on Monday.
But Newell said: "When a job becomes available, people look for the next person and the fact that, just like at Blackburn, I was an ex-player at Leicester and that things are going so well here, people put two and two together and get five or six.
"I'm happy in my job here and will continue to do it."
Newell is considering an offer from Luton to extend his contract which runs out next summer. He said: "The situation hasn't changed. I've been offered a new contract and I don't see there being a problem with it.
"I've just given it to my solicitor to look over and it's not that I don't trust anyone here, but I've had bad experiences with contracts in the past and I want to make sure that doesn't happen again.
"I trust everybody here, but it's just a legal thing where I want to know where I stand should the people in charge ever change."
City legend Steve Walsh, meanwhile, says he is "flattered" to have been linked with the vacant job although he is a long-odds outsider in the betting.
The 39-year-old, who made 449 appearances for City, now runs an internet business selling golfing holiday packages in the south of Spain.
But Walsh was this week touted by as a possible replacement for Adams.
He said:
"It is always flattering to be linked with a club that you hold so close to your heart. It is nice to have had my name mentioned over the last week but I don't really think I have the qualifications for the job.
"But I could make someone a good No.2 - everyone knows that they will always get 110 per cent out of me."
Walsh has no immediate plans to return to this country on a full-time basis and has not applied for the post. But he believes he would be foolish not to consider his options if he was approached.
"It would be the only job I would come back for and I would seriously have to think about it,'' he said.
"Leicester are still a big part of my life.But there is no real point on commenting on pure speculation."
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