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 only made two senior appearances that season but was a key player in Villa's FA Youth Cup winning side of 1972.

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.

Ironically , the previous year it was a congenital spinal defect that was detected in x-rays when Little was undergoing a medical at Villa's local rivals Birmingham City.

Little was an important part of the club's coaching staff as Middlesbrough's form improved, and with two successive promotions they were in the First Division for the 1988–89 season.

The season ended in relegation for Middlesbrough but in February Little left the Ayresome Park coaching staff and became manager of Darlington.

1990–91 brought more success for Little and Darlington as they won the Fourth Division championship, and by this stage he was on the radar of bigger clubs looking to appoint a new manager.

At the end of 1991–92, Leicester came fourth in the Second Division and qualified for the promotion playoffs, the winners securing a place in the new Premier League.

But their promotion hopes were dashed when Blackburn striker Mike Newell, a former Leicester player, scored a penalty which took the Lancashire side into the new league.

They fought back to bring the scoreline to 3–3, however Swindon scored a controversial late fourth goal from the penalty spot to progress to the Premier League.

Earlier in the year, former Middlesbrough youth coach Little had been linked with a return to the Teesside club as manager following the departure of Lennie Lawrence, but the job went to Bryan Robson instead.

In January 2000 the promising Italian midfielder Enzo Maresca was transferred to Juventus for £4 million as Albion battled against relegation.

The Tigers were hit by huge debts and were locked out of Boothferry Park for one game by the landlord, former tennis player David Lloyd.

By the end of the 2000–01 season, Hull had been saved from closure by new owner Adam Pearson, and the club's future looked brighter.

[9] In his first full season as manager, he guided Tranmere to a third-place finish in League One but they lost in the playoffs to miss out on promotion.

however, a run of poor results followed, with Wrexham being left in the mid-table battle, only four points above the relegation zone and only keeping two clean sheets all season.

[17] Little was appointed as the Jersey FA's Director of Football in November 2014,[18] overseeing the work of first team manager Jimmy Reilly.

[21] Little won the Muratti in May 2016,[22] but stepped down as manager the following month and reverted to his position as Director of Football;[23] allowing him to concentrate on his commitments at Aston Villa.