Roy Little (1 June 1931 – 29 January 2015) was an English football right back who was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He left school, at age 14. His first professional club was Manchester City, who he joined from the amateur side Greenwood Victoria in August 1949. He did not make his league debut until more than three years later, playing against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

in January 1953. He made five further appearances that season, but the following season he displaced Jack Hannaway to become first choice full-back. Under the

Revie Plan The Revie Plan was a tactical system in association football used by Manchester City in the 1950s. The system was named after Manchester City player Don Revie, who had the most important role in it. In 1953, English football was astounded by the H ...

, Little formed a defensive partnership with Jimmy Meadows, as Manchester City reached consecutive FA Cup finals. In the 1955 FA Cup final, against Newcastle United, Little's despairing lunge was unable to prevent

Jackie Milburn John Edward Thompson "Jackie" Milburn (11 May 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a football player principally associated with Newcastle United and England, though he also spent four seasons at Linfield. He was also known as Wor Jackie (particularly ...

from scoring the opening goal after less than a minute. Midway through the first half Little's defensive partner Meadows was lost to injury, and though Manchester City equalised, the final score was a comfortable 3–1 win for Newcastle. Though defeated in the 1955 final, Manchester City had another strong season in 1955–56. Little was ever-present as City finished fourth in the league and again reached the FA Cup final, in which they faced

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

. This time Manchester City scored an early goal, and by the middle of the second half gained a 3–1 lead. A serious injury to Manchester City goalkeeper

Bert Trautmann Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann EK OBE BVO (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. In August 1933, (aged 9), he joined the Jungvolk, the junior ...

meant City captain Roy Paul considered putting Little in goal. However, Trautmann insisted upon carrying on, and City held out for the victory, giving Little the first and only major honour of his career. Three days later X-rays found that Trautmann had broken his neck.* Little remained a first team regular for two further seasons, but lost his place to Cliff Sear in 1958, and was transferred to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

for £4,850 on 18 October, having played a total of 187 matches for City, scoring two goals. He later played for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, who had just gained promotion to the Third Division. He was one of four players to make their Palace debut on the opening day of the 1961–62 season. After 38 appearances for the Glaziers, Little ended his football career with a spell as player-manager of Dover. After retiring from professional football Little returned to Manchester, and took a job at a

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

sports centre in

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approx ...

, where he worked for over 25 years until retirement. A university football competition is named in his honour. The current holders are German Society FC who overturned a two-goal deficit against a much fancied Medics outfit to win 3–2. Little died on 29 January 2015 in Manchester. He was 83. His obituary was placed in the Manchester Evening News on 2 February 2015.Obituary: Man City legend Roy Little passes away aged 83
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Honours

As a player

Manchester City * FA Cup winner

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Roy 1931 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Manchester English footballers Manchester City F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Dover F.C. players Christchurch United players English Football League players Association football defenders FA Cup Final players