Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, scoring 60 goals and earning a single cap for England in 1975. As a player he won the Football League Cup on two occasions in 1975 and 1977. As a manager he has been in charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Darlington before taking a job in with Leicester City, during his tenure he secured promotion to the Premier League by winning the play-offs in 1994. He was then appointed as manager of fellow top flight side Aston Villa where he went on to win the Football League Cup in 1996. He had later spells in charge of Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Hull City, Tranmere Rovers, Wrexham, Gainsborough Trinity and Jersey. Playing career On leaving school in May 1969, Little signed for Aston Villa who would be relegated to the Third Division for the first and only time in their history in the following season. He played a full season for the Aston Villa Youth side and subsequently made his senior debut on 30 October 1971, in a 4–1 win over Blackburn Rovers in the Third Division at Villa Park. He only made two senior appearances that season but was a key player in Villa's FA Youth Cup winning side of 1972. By 1973–74, with Villa in the Second Division, he was a regular first team player. He made 247 appearances for the club and scored 60 goals, and made one full international appearance for England in 1975. He was part of Villa's League Cup winning teams of 1975 and 1977, scoring two goals in the second replay victory over Everton in the latter final, as well as helping the club climb from the Third to First Division in the early part of the decade, scoring 20 league goals in the 1974–75 season when they were runners-up and clinched promotion to the First Division. His playing career came to a halt in 1980 when he retired at the age of 26 due to a knee injury. The injury was discovered when Little was undergoing a medical at Villa's local rivals Birmingham City. This meant his intended transfer there was cancelled. He was a flamboyant forward who formed