Newell critical of Wise and board

Newell has hit out at Wise and his own board

Luton boss Mike Newell has hit out at Leeds manager Dennis Wise and blamed the Hatters troubles on his own board.

Leeds counterpart Dennis Wise accused Newell of "talking rubbish" over his bid to re-sign Kevin Nicholls.

But Newell said: "There has been a total lack of respect shown to Luton Town by the manager of Leeds."

Newell has had to sell over £9m of talent since last season and he added: "Someone should investigate what's going on at this club."

Curtis Davies, Rowan Vine, Carlos Edwards and Steve Howard have all been sold for seven-figure sums since the club won the League One title in 2005.

Only a fraction of that money has been given to Newell to spend in the transfer market and after finishing in the top half of the Championship last season they are now deep in relegation troubles.

LUTON DEPARTURES Curtis Davies £3m WBA Rowan Vine £3m Birmingham Carlos Edwards £1.5m Sunderland Steve Howard £1m Derby Kevin Nicholls £0.7m Leeds Total - £9.2m

He said: "The reason we're in this position is because we've sold our best players.

"Where's the £9m gone? Give that to me and I'll get five experienced players in, I'll pay them fortunes and we'll get ourselves out of it.

"It takes three or four years to build a reputation as a decent manager and three months to lose that reputation. But if you take the four best players out of any team it will hurt them."

Nicholls was another player to depart last summer in a £700,000 transfer to Leeds but he has become unsettled at Elland Road and Newell's attempts to bring him back has led to a war of words between the two managers.

Wise last week accused the Hatters boss of "talking a load of rubbish" over claims the Leeds boss had already offered the former Luton midfielder to two other clubs.

Newell accused Wise of being disrespectful to Luton, adding: "I kept very quiet last week because I didn't want to stoke the fire by reacting to his comments.

"I'm reacting to them now. I won't have anyone disrespect this club and talk about it as a small club in Bedfordshire.

"Dennis Wise needs to remember where he has come from. He hasn't always been employed by massive clubs. This is Luton Town Football Club. This club is as important to Luton Town supporters as Leeds United is to Leeds supporters."