Although his playing career was over, Little remained on the Aston Villa payroll as youth team coach. When manager
Tony Barton was sacked in the summer of 1984, Little's contract was also terminated and he became first-team coach of
Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Brian Little was appointed
caretaker manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers on 31 August 1986 as successor to
Sammy Chapman. His appointment came at the end of the blackest spell in the club's history, when three successive relegations had dragged them from the
First Division to the
Fourth. He oversaw a steady start to the
1986–87 season before
Graham Turner was appointed manager 36 days later.
Middlesbrough Shortly after leaving Wolverhampton, Little was recruited as a first team coach by
Middlesbrough manager
Bruce Rioch. Like Wolves, Middlesbrough were a financially troubled club and had narrowly escaped bankruptcy. 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.
Darlington Darlington were bottom of the
Football League in the
Fourth Division. He was unable to prevent them from getting relegated to the
Conference but they were promoted back into the League at the first time of asking.
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.
Leicester City In June 1991,
Leicester City appointed Little as their replacement for
Gordon Lee. The Foxes had just avoided relegation to the Third and Little was chosen as the man to turn the club's fortunes around. They emerged as promotion contenders in his first season in charge at
Filbert Street. 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. They overcame
Cambridge United in the semi-finals and were drawn with
Blackburn Rovers in the final. 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. At the end of the
1992–93 season, Leicester qualified for the playoffs again in the new Division One. They overcame
Portsmouth in the semi-finals but in the final were 3–0 down shortly after half-time to
Swindon Town. 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. In
1993–94, however, Leicester won their third consecutive play-offs with a 2–1 win in the final against East Midlands rivals
Derby County. This was Leicester's first win in a Wembley final after seven attempts, and took them back into the top flight after a seven-year absence. In November 1994, following the dismissal of Aston Villa manager
Ron Atkinson, Little was linked with a return to
Villa Park as manager. Leicester, meanwhile, were struggling among the elite and they went on to be relegated in second from bottom place, with just six league wins all season. With Villa yet to appoint a successor to Atkinson, Little resigned as Leicester manager later that month. 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.
Aston Villa Within days of quitting Leicester, Little was confirmed as Villa's new manager. Villa had finished runners-up in the first Premier League 18 months earlier, but were now in the relegation battle. A 1–1 draw with relegated
Norwich City on the last day of the season meant Villa's relegation battle had been won. Under Little, young players like
Mark Bosnich (179) and
Ugo Ehiogu (237) were now getting more first team chances, but Villa also made a large number of new signings between
November 1994 and August 1995, including
Ian Taylor (233),
Mark Draper (120),
Gary Charles (107) and
Savo Milošević (90). The revamped, younger Villa team gelled well, and
1995–96 was a successful season at
Villa Park. The club finished fourth in the Premiership, reached the
FA Cup semi-finals and won the
Football League Cup with a 3–0 win over
Leeds United at
Wembley, securing
UEFA Cup qualification for the fourth time in six seasons. Villa qualified for the
1996–97 UEFA Cup and although they were knocked out at the first stage by Swedish side
Helsingborg, they qualified for the
1997–98 competition after finishing fifth in the Premiership.
In February 1998, Little resigned after just over three years as Aston Villa manager, with the club in the bottom half of the Premiership. His successor
John Gregory turned things around, with a seventh place finish clinching a UEFA Cup place.
Stoke City Little was appointed manager of
Stoke City in May 1998, just after their relegation to Division Two. Little arrived with the only objective was to gain an instant return to the First Division in
1998–99. Stoke began the season in fine form winning 14 of their first 20 matches and they looked well placed for automatic promotion. By February 2002 Hull City looked well on course for automatic promotion from Division Three. But Little unexpectedly announced his resignation from the club, and under his successor
Jan Mølby, the club's fortunes slipped dramatically and they could not even finish high enough for a play-off place.
Tranmere Rovers In October 2003, Little made a return to football management with
Tranmere Rovers, who were in
Division Two. His first season with the
Merseyside club was a success. When he took over they were battling against relegation. But by the end of the season they had climbed up to eighth place and had reached the quarter finals of the
FA Cup. He won the Second Division manager of the month award for April 2004. 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. Tranmere began 2005–06 as League One promotion favourites, but at the turn of 2006 they were facing a relegation battle. The club only avoided relegation with one game to go and, due to the club's poor finishing position in League One, he left the club by mutual consent on 5 May 2006.
Wrexham Out-of-work Little was linked with a return to management with both
Gillingham and
Port Vale. However, in November 2007, Little took the reins at
Wrexham, replacing
Brian Carey. With five games remaining in the season the club were in the relegation zone, seven points off safety. They were relegated to the Conference on 22 April 2008 after a 2–0 loss at Hereford United. However, Little signed a two-year contract, promising to revive the club's fortunes. The 2008-09 season started well, with a 5–0 home victory against
Stevenage Borough, another team expected to challenge for 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. Following a 3–0 home defeat against
Rushden & Diamonds, Little left Wrexham by mutual consent.
Gainsborough Trinity On 28 August 2009, Little was appointed manager of
Conference North side
Gainsborough Trinity. The club had moved to appoint him following the recent dismissal of manager
Steve Charles and the resignation of his coaching staff which included formerly appointed caretaker managers
Dave Reeves and
Steve Blatherwick. However, Little would not take charge of the club's away fixture the following day against
Farsley Celtic after it was announced he would not take over from player/caretaker manager
Adie Moses until 7 September. Little began building a squad of professionals at Trinity, picking up many players from the
Football League and other ex-League players from the
Conference National, but despite boasting a large squad of experienced players Trinity narrowly avoided relegation to the
Northern Premier League during the 2010–11 season. On 22 August 2011 following one win and two defeats in the opening weeks of the 2011–12 season, Little was sacked as manager of Trinity with
Steve Housham taking over as caretaker manager.
Jersey Little was appointed as the
Jersey FA's Director of Football in November 2014, overseeing the work of
first team manager Jimmy Reilly. Reilly went on to lead the islanders to their first
Muratti Vase Final victory in four years the following May. Months later,
Jersey announced their intention to join
UEFA, and when Reilly stepped aside in early 2016 Little was appointed to replace him. Little won the Muratti in May 2016, but stepped down as manager the following month and reverted to his position as Director of Football; allowing him to concentrate on his commitments at
Aston Villa. In January 2024, Little was named by Aston Villa as a member of the
Honorary Anniversary Board ahead of the club's 150th anniversary season. ==Career statistics==