Alan Little (born 5 February 1955) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

. He played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Little made over 400 appearances in his senior career, with the most caps coming with

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and Barnsley. Little then went on to manage from 1993 to 2002, with seven seasons coming with York City.

Playing career

Alan Little was born in

Horden Horden is a village and electoral ward in County Durham, England. It is situated on the North Sea coast, to the east of Peterlee, approximately 12 miles south of Sunderland. Horden was a mining village until the closure of the Horden Coll ...

, County Durham. He served his apprenticeship at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

and, alongside his brother, Brian, was in the youth side which beat

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

to win the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. I ...

in 1972. He turned professional in January 1973 and on 5 October 1974, made his full league debut, a 2–1 win away to

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

. This was the first of just three league appearances for Villa. In December 1974 he was sold to

for £10,000. The following season, he was a regular in the side that reached the fifth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

. He made 102 full appearances (+ 1 as a substitute) and scored 12 goals for 'the Shrimpers'. In August 1977,

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...

paid £6,000 to take him to

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports development in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used primarily by Barnsley Football Club for playing their home fixtures, and those of their reserves. While the name 'Oakwell' generally refers to the main s ...

, where he played 91 times, scoring 14 goals. December 1979 saw Little on the move again, this time to

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

, who paid a club record £25,000 for his services. He provided the experience that

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stam ...

's young side needed, and became a great favourite with the Doncaster fans, winning the supporters' Player of the Year award, before moving to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nickna ...

in October 1982 in a deal that saw Clive Wigginton move in the opposite direction. He scored four times in 51 games for Torquay, leaving to join Halifax Town in November 1983, playing 68 times (and scoring 6 goals) for 'the Shaymen' before joining

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

as player-coach in July 1985. Throughout his playing career Little earned a reputation as a fiercely competitive, tough tackling midfielder, which made him highly respected by supporters and fellow players alike.

Coaching and managerial career

Little was forced to retire due to injury in May 1986 and stayed at Hartlepool, where he was given the opportunity of coaching the juniors. He was later appointed assistant to manager John Bird, and when Bird became the manager at

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in September 1988, Little went with him as assistant manager. In October 1991, after an unsuccessful three years, Bird was sacked. The new manager, John Ward, retained Little as his assistant. Under Ward, York became a stronger side and in the 1992–93 season made a push for

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. However, in March 1993, Ward left to manage

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

, leaving Little in charge. His first game as York manager was a 5–1 win away to promotion rivals Barnet. York eventually finished fourth in the Third Division and had to settle for a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

place. After a 1–0 aggregate win over Bury in the semi-finals, York gained a place in

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

by beating

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

on a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. The following season, York almost repeated the feat, but were beaten in the Second Division play-off semi-finals by

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

. There were other highlights during Little's time at York, most notably the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

wins over

Manchester United 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 ...

in 1995, and Everton in 1996. However, York's overall form under Little deteriorated and after a run of 10 games without victory he was sacked on 15 March 1999. York were relegated that season having only dropped into the relegation zone on the last day of the season. In April 1999, Little returned to his old club, Southend United, after the resignation of

Alvin Martin Alvin Edward Martin (born 29 July 1958) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and pundit. As a player, he was a defender, playing most of his footballing career for West Ham United he appeared in 598 games for them, s ...

, helping them to avoid the drop into the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

at the end of the season. He also helped them survive a serious financial crisis by slashing the wage bill and rebuilding a much cheaper side. His dismissal on 28 September 2000 came as a surprise as, despite a poor start to the season, it came after a five-game unbeaten run that saw 'the Shrimpers' rise to 10th in the Third Division. He was replaced by David Webb on 2 October 2000. In June 2001, he was appointed Chief

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, managed by his older brother Brian. On 12 October 2001, Little was appointed as manager of former club Halifax Town. With only three league wins before falling ill with

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a r ...

in March 2002, Little was sacked. Halifax were relegated to the Conference at the end of the season and went out of business six years later.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Alan 1955 births Living people People from Horden Footballers from County Durham English footballers Association football midfielders Aston Villa F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers York City F.C. managers Southend United F.C. managers Halifax Town A.F.C. managers English Football League managers York City F.C. non-playing staff Hartlepool United F.C. non-playing staff