PATIENCE THE KEY FOR BRIAN LITTLE
Andrew Gilpin - Daily Post

FROM having one of the most flamboyant hairstyles of the 70s, Brian Little takes a much more pragmatic approach nowadays to football management.

Today, any last-minute hitches aside, Little should be installed as Wrexham manager, with a Press conference called for 2pm.

There it is expected that Little will name Brian Carey as assistant boss and begin the long task of moving the Dragons away from the bottom of the table.

But patience will be the key for former Leicester City, Aston Villa, and Hull City boss.

Brian, it seems, wants a Little time.

"I think the most important thing is to sort out the team's position in the league," he said last night.

"Then and only then can you look to the future.

"I haven't spoke to Brian (Carey) yet but I've no reason to think he won't be here to help. I know him and trust him because I signed him at Leicester.

"At the moment we need to get the club away from the bottom of the table, whether that takes a month or three months.

"Once we do that we can look at other targets."

Those targets include eventually lifting the Dragons into League One, but Little is canny enough to know his arrival won't suddenly spark an underachieving team into action.

"The current position is not one where you can say that someone new can come in and we'll start flying up the league," he added.

"It might take a little time and maybe it will be a long hard season, but we've got to have a focus on trying to get away from the bottom of the table.

"If that isn't the case straight away then we'll have to focus on retaining our league status. Those will have to be my initial aims."

Little was a one-club man who played 247-times for Villa - and once for England before injury cut short his career at 26.

Until then he was known for his flamboyant front play - and haircut - as he forged an impressive partnership with Andy Gray in the late 70s.

But in his managerial career - which he began with Darlington after coaching spells with Wolves and Middlesbrough - Little is known for bringing pragmatism to bear and helping the likes of Aston Villa and Tranmere escape from the danger zone.

And that's something he hopes he can replicate at the Racecourse.

"Some people are full of false promises early doors, but there has to be a realisation that the team are in a bad position," he added.

"This is something I've inherited before at other clubs and it's something I think I've got experience in.

"The important thing is not to kid anybody and to stay focused but to pick up points steadily and move away from danger."

But don't expect there to be a complete overhaul of the squad, like he did to an ageing Aston Villa unit which he led from the bottom reaches to a fourth-placed Premiership finish within a season.

There the likes of Shaun Teale and Nigel Spink made way for young blood such as Gareth Southgate and Mark Bosnich.

However Little realises his role at Wrexham is a long way from those days.

"Nowadays the transfer market doesn't let you do complete overhauls," he added.

"If you look at Tranmere Rovers, when I went there it was similar circumstances as now because the transfer market wasn't open until January. I just had to get the best out of the squad.

"The most important thing for me is to get the best out of the current crop and if possible bring one or two lads in.

"The game is somewhat different to the early 90s when I was able to revamp Villa. I'm not saying there won't be new signings, and I'm not saying people won't move on.

"But the transfer market is more difficult nowadays to negotiate."

One of the major criticisms of Carey's tenure was that he didn't possess the experience to mould a group of talented players together.

And so it may be that Little has an embarrassment of riches in this area. He has inherited a large squad, with many past or present internationals.

Wrexham fans will hope he has the right qualities to get them playing, and last night Little added: "I know certain players at the club, but the nice thing is that I'm not going straight into a game, so I'll meet with them and be able to watch and learn during training.

"There are some of the younger players that I don't know that well, but I understand they have a good reputation here in that respect.

"But until you get in and about people the most important thing is to reserve judgment. Everybody stands a chance of staking a chance of first-team football. The board is well and truly wiped clean."

Signings look certain to be made however, with Carey reported to be interested in bringing in a new goalkeeper to the club before his demotion.

And Little will hope the club's owners, Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss, will loosen the purse strings slightly to give him any assistance he needs.

But Little has already been impressed by the pair's ambition for the club.

"When you meet people you can quickly see if you can get on with them," he said. "I've spoken to a few people over the last few months and on a couple of occasions there's been not the right vibes, but when I met the owners, we got on well and we had similar ideas.

"I'm looking forward to fulfilling the dreams they have for the club.

"They've given me the opportunity to do that and I'd like to throw thanks back at them by getting them some results early."

LITTLE'S PLANS FOR WREXHAM
Darren Devine - Western Mail

WREXHAM'S new manager Brian Little believes the Dragons have the potential to win promotion out of League Two.

Little has a proven track record in transforming the fortunes of ailing clubs including Aston Villa, Leicester City and, more recently, Tranmere Rovers.

But he warned Dragons fans they must first prepare for a season of consolidation in League Two after a start that has left them second-bottom.

And the new manager revealed a major overhaul of the Dragons' existing squad is unlikely in his first season and he wants outgoing boss Brian Carey to work as his assistant.

Little, who will be unveiled as the club's new boss today, said, "The long-term aim is to be a very competitive force, firstly in this division and, hopefully, as time goes by, in the division above.

"I think the club has the potential to go up a division and that has to be my long-term goal.

"But it's no good having long-term targets if you don't achieve your short-term targets first and foremost.

"Rest assured, one of the reasons the job interested me was that the club can, given the right opportunity, progress further than it is at the moment."

Little said he struck up an instant rapport with the club's owners Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss and believes their ambitions for Wrexham match his own.

"When you meet people you sometimes feel very quickly that you can get on and you can work with them and there is a rapport there.

"I've spoken to several people over the last few months and on a couple of occasions there wasn't the right vibe there.

"The nice thing on meeting the owners was that we got on well and we seem to have similar sorts of ideas and I'm looking forward to fulfilling the dreams that they have for the club.

"They've given me an opportunity and I'd like to repay them by getting them some results quickly."

Little said during his time at Tranmere he lacked the resources to totally overhaul his squad and was instead forced to work with many of the players he inherited.

But this didn't prevent success at Prenton Park - Rovers were struggling in the old Division Two (now League One) when he joined before he guided them to eighth and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

He's hoping to work similar magic at the Racecourse.

"I don't think anyone is in a position these days to overhaul the squad until the end of the season. The most important thing for me is to get the best out of the current group of people and if possible bring one or two lads in.

"But the days of changing your team in November are gone, simply because the transfer market doesn't allow you to do that any more."

Little believes Carey, whom he signed for Manchester United while boss of Leicester City, can be an integral part of his plans.

"I'll meet Brian and I hope very much that he would want to do that (work as assistant manager).

"I know Brian because I signed him for Leicester City from Manchester United and I liked him a lot as a player and I'd like to think he would enjoy working with me, but the choice is his."

Little was a huge fan of the wing-backs system at both Villa and Tranmere and hinted its a system he may deploy again at Wrexham.

Wrexham's players are very familiar with the system as it was used by Denis Smith during his spell in charge at the Racecourse as well as by outgoing boss Carey.

"Different people have different tweaks as to how the (wing-backs) system should be played and I have my own take on how it should be played.

"Over the next few days I'll look at different systems and see how the players adapt to different formations.

"I favour the three centre-backs, but I'd want to assess the squad on the training ground for a few days before I make my mind up which way they'll play."

GARETH ROBERTS GIVES HIS BACKING TO BRIAN LITTLE
Richard Williams - Wrexham Evening Leader

WALES' Wrexham-born defender Gareth Roberts today paid new Reds boss Brian LIttle the ultimate honour, declaring: "I would definitely play for him again."

Roberts enjoyed seven seasons at Tranmere Rovers, with three of those campaigns under former manager Little, who was in the Prenton Park hotseat between October 2003 and May 2006.

Little, who has not been in the management game in the 18 months since he left Tranmere by mutual consent despite leading the club to the League One play-off semi-finals in the 2004-05 season - they were beaten on penalties by Hartlepool - was today unveiled as the new Wrexham manager.

And Wales international Roberts, now at League One Doncaster, has nothing but praise for LIttle, who has managed at the highest level with Leicester City and Aston Villa.

"Brian is a nice person to get on with and is as honest as they come," said Roberts today. "His all-round personality and how he has time for everybody is brilliant.

"I would definitely play for him again. If Brian was manager of another club and he wanted me, I would go there.

"I like everything he did, like the way he trained us and way he dealt with people. Brian was fair with everyone and there was no problem at all with the relationship I had with him."

Little, who has had a whole range of jobs in a management capacity and is well respected in the game, has been brought in to improve struggling Wrexham's lowly position in the League Two table.

The Reds have lost 10 of their 14 league matches, winning just three of those, and are currently second from bottom with just 10 points after nearly a third of the season gone.

But as well as Little's nice-guy image, Roberts said the 53-year-old has got the football brain to take Wrexham away from the relegation zone.

"Brian is a very good manager. He comes in and he knows what he wants," said Roberts.

"He knows his stuff and is clued up on the league and the players.

"I think Wrexham will do well with Brian is charge.

"It would be disastrous if they did not get out of this position but Brian is the man who take them up the table.

"I know Brian was looking to get back into football and this is a great chance for him. I wish him all the best, and that Wrexham push on now."

Roberts, the veteran of more than 300 league appearances despite not turning 30 until next February, still follows the fortunes of his home-town club.

And the left-sided defender, recovering from a double hernia operation on Tuesday after breaking down in Doncaster's 2-2 draw with Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup first round tie on Saturday, believes Little will be eager to shore up Wrexham's leaky defence.

"I still follow Wrexham and have seen they have been leaking goals. He will be looking to tidy up the defence, maybe by bringing in people on loan," added Roberts.

"Brian will take a couple of weeks to see what he has got, but he will probably want to make a few signings. I hope the club lets him do that.

"They signed some really good players over the summer and they don't seem to have gelled, though I don't know why. Hopefully Brian can sort things out there."

Roberts isn't the only man with words of praise for Little.

Dean Saunders played under Little at Villa and said: "I think he'll do a great job for Wrexham and it is a good club for him to join.

"I played under him when he took over from Ron Atkinson at Villa and I worked with him for a while. I was really impressed by how organised he was and is he is methodical about discipline and he is a decent man as well.

"You can only speak as you find and I got on with him very well."

Saunders, whose name was linked with the management job, believe Little will be impressed with the club's training facilities having spend some time coaching the youngsters and some of the first team strikers.

"He'll be pleasantly surprised when he sees the facilities," added Saunders.

"They have two good men in charge in Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss who are desperate for success and it is all set up off the pitch.

"Brian Carey and Steve Weaver have been working so hard and at the end of the day the results haven't gone for them. It's not through want of trying though.

"I don't know if they are going to remain at the club but it would a shame for Wrexham to lose them as they are two good men. But Brian Little would be a great appointment for Wrexham."