Their appetite for work was incredible

Their appetite for work was incredible.” And yet Rioch, I venture, appears to have been cast off the managerial merry-go-round “Yeah, it’s a surprise. But at Boro Bruce ran the place and the chairman, who was also the chairman of ICI, was fine about that.”Since then, the job has changed, and maybe that’s why Bruce is out of it Like him, I learned early on just to run the thing. If I could do a deal on a loan player, knowing that I could move someone else on, I would just do it. These days chairmen and chief executives want to make those decisions with you Even over minor things. They call you and say ‘I hear this or that is happening’ and you say ‘Yeah’, so they say ‘Well, hang on, let’s talk about it’.

I’m not saying it was better the way it was, but it’s changed.His implication, though, is clearly that the manager’s role is diminished. In some ways, perhaps, it suits him not to be dealing with multi-millionaires every day. He talks fondly of the morning he haggled over £5 a week in a player’s wage packet at Darlington, but incredulously of the time he and Ellis concluded Aston Villa’s first £20,000-a-week pay deal, with Dwight Yorke and his representatives. “We looked at each other, Doug and I, and said ‘What’s happening to this game?’. And since then, in the six years since I was in the Premiership, it’s gone through the roof again.”He smiles wistfully “I can’t help comparing things with when I was playing. We were just ordinary lads doing OK for ourselves, living on the same streets as everyone else.

When I retired in 1980 I had a three-bedroomed detached house, mine without a mortgage But that was it. End of story.”As for the story of Tranmere Rovers v Bolton Wanderers, it could be that another compelling chapter is about to begin. Whatever, if Tranmere go 1-0 up and Little duly barks his instructions, the ghost of Ron Saunders will surely look down on Prenton Park not with a smile, for he didn’t go in for smiling much, but at least with grim satisfaction.BRIAN LITTLE THE LIFE AND TIMES Born: Horden, County Durham on 25 November 1953.1969: Joins Aston Villa as an apprentice.1971: March: Signs as professional for Villa. 30 October: Plays the first of 301 games for Villa as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers. Scored 82 goals.1975: Wins League Cup with Villa beating Norwich 1-0 at Wembley. Won his only England cap, coming on as a substitute against Wales.1977: Another League Cup-winner’s medal, scoring twice as Villa beat Everton 3-2 in a second replay at Old Trafford after two draws.1979: Serious knee injury forces early retirement.1986: Goes into coaching with Villa.

Also coaches Middlesbrough and Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he is appointed caretaker manager; loses only one of his eight games in charge but leaves when Graham Turner is given the manager’s job.1989: Given the opportunity to prove himself as a manager when handed the task of taking Darlington back into the Football League after their relegation to the Conference.1990: Steers Darlington to the Conference title and an immediate return to the Football League.1991: Continues remarkable start in management by taking Darlington to the Fourth Division title. His success is noticed by bigger clubs and he leaves the North-east to become the manager of Leicester.1994: More success as he steers Leicester into the Premiership but he leaves the Foxes. 25 November: Appointed manager of Aston Villa.1996: Villa win League Cup by beating Leeds 3-0 in the final, reach FA Cup semi-finals and finish fourth in the Premiership.1998: 24 February: Resigns as Aston Villa manager.April: Appointed manager of Stoke City and leads them into the 1998-99 season. Makes good start, taking the team to the top of the table after six straight wins and holding the position until December.