FORMER Blackburn Rovers striker Mike Newell has received undisclosed damages from Birmingham City after allegations by club director David Sullivan that he showed a lack of commitment while at St Andrews.

Newell, who now plays for First Division Crewe, brought libel proceedings over a series of "critical" statements made to the press by Sullivan in December 1996.

Newell's counsel Patrick Moloney QC told Mr Justice Popplewell at the High Court in London that, at the time, the player had asked to be put on the transfer list as he and the Division One club had been unable to establish a good mutual working relationship.

Newell felt the remarks damaged his standing in the game and his prospects of employment as a player, or in management.

Moloney said that Sullivan and the club now recognised that Newell was an able and dedicated professional footballer who did not allow his disagreements with the First Division side to affect his training or playing, and they had agreed to pay him a sum in compensation and offered a public apology.

Newell, who scored the play-off final winner which earned Rovers promotion to the Premier League in 1992 and also won a championship medal in 1995, also played for Everton, Bradford and West Ham on loan before joining Aberdeen.

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