Brian Little was confirmed as the Director of Football of the Jersey FA on November 18, 2014.
Little has won five promotions in a distinguished career as a coach and manager.
The
former Aston Villa striker was forced to quit through injury at the
young age of 26 but was able to transfer his intelligence as a player to
his new trade.
Newcastle-born Brian became Villa's youth coach
after his retirement before moving for first-team involvement at
Wolverhampton Wanderers. He then helped Middlesbrough to two successive
promotions as part of the Teesside club's managerial team.
Little
stayed in the North East to advance his reputation with Darlington who
were bottom of the Football League when he joined them in 1989. He
couldn't prevent relegation but reshaped his side to win immediate
promotion from the Conference. . . and Darlington then bounced out of
Divison Four as champions the following season.
Brian moved in
June, 1991 to achieve further dramatic success with Leicester City. They
reached the play-offs in three successive seasons, finally clinching a
return to the top flight with a Wembley win over Midlands rivals Derby
County.
Little was lured back to Villa Park following the
departure of Ron Atkinson in 1994. He kept a floundering team in the
Premier League and freshened up an ageing line-up. Villa were fourth in
the Premiership the following season and also won the League Cup,
beating Leeds 3-0 in the final.
Having led the club into the
UEFA Cup and maintained a high placing in the league by finishing fifth
in 1997, Brian was forced out of Villa Park even though they were
holding their own in the Premiership at the time. He had spells in
charge of Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion before being appointed by
Hull City in April, 2000.
Little led the Tigers into the play-offs and had the team in promotion contention again the following season.
He has since had spells at Tranmere Rovers - whom he guided to the play-offs and the quarter finals of the FA Cup - and Wrexham.
More recently he took charge of Gainsborough Trinity, where he was manager from August 2009 - August 2011.
As
a player, Brian made 247 appearances across 10 years with Villa,
scoring 60 goals. During that time, Villa returned to the top flight
with back-to-back promotions and won two League Cups. Little was also
capped by England.