You were born and raised in Newcastle, so how did you end up spending your entire club career at Aston Villa?
There were no real academies and the like when I was a youngster. The first proper trial I ever went to was at Port Vale, when Stanley Matthews was the manager. Stan organised a coach-load of triallists from the North East to travel to Vale Park for trials. That meant a day out for the entire Little family – Dad, Mum and my brothers all came to Burslem to support me. Stan made a point of coming over to my family and saying Port Vale would be a good place for me to begin my career. When I became Stoke manager many years later, Stan and I discussed that
