• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Brian Little

Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
5,690
Player
Alan King, Barry Dyson
Our ex-manager is back at PP tomorrow to promote his book. https://www.tranmererovers.co.uk/ne...-little-book-signing-session-at-prenton-park/ I wonder if any of you will buy it. It would be interesting to read what he says about his time at TRFC. I remember him with mixed emotions. We were so unlucky not to go up in his first full season, but then he seemed to fall out with Lorraine Rogers and the writing was on the wall. Arguably, he was the best manager we had in League One (as it is now), not that that is saying a lot. I thought at the time he deserved more support, but the finances were not there.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
I have always quite liked Little and think he was harshly treated by our supporters. His first two seasons were very good and the struggles of the third were always likely when we lost out best players.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
I felt Mathias wasn’t given long enough to turn things round and so was always going to be ambivalent about his replacement. There were some good performances in the Little era, particularly enjoyed a 1-2 win at Hillsborough, when living in Sheffield. However the way we were set up for the first leg of the play-offs was arguably too negative, he froze Tyrone Loran, one of my favourite players at the time, out of the side and while he brought Goodi to the club, often played him at left-back rather than in central defence. Little’s management career post Rovers has been fairly dismal.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
I agree that Mathias was harshly treated, although that was not Little's fault. Little himself has admitted he got the tactics wrong at Hartlepool.

I still don't really understand what some of our supporters' beef is with Little. He was a cautious manager, but nowhere near as negative as Parry or Brabin, and he did everything that was asked of him in 2003-4 and 2004-5, aside from that play-off first leg. I enjoyed those seasons.

In 2005-6 we suffered from the loss of the midfield partnership of McAteer and Rankin, who were both injury-prone or past it by then, in addition to losing Hume, Hall and Taylor. Little's final season was pretty grim, featuring players of the quality of Sam Aiston and Steve Wilson......
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
Personally just didn’t warm to the man. The football was reasonable, though one or two weird decisions as I alluded to above. He came across as arrogant/aloof.
 
Joined
18 May 2012
Messages
769
Player
ian goodison
tyrone loren now there was a player, I remember drawing 2-2 at home to a cracking Swansea team then going to Barnsley on Tuesday, changed the team and got beat 2-0 as above seemed aloof to me seemed to think he was doing us a favour being here
 
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