WHEN he was growing up Glen Little used to dream of playing for Manchester United at Old Trafford when watching his hero Steve Coppell.

In the end, he played against United at the Theatre of Dreams while playing for a team managed by Coppell.

After his time at Burnley had come to an end Little decided to make the switch to Reading, a Championship club at the time with Premier League ambitions.

In Little’s second season those ambitions were realised as they took the Championship by storm, winning the title with 106 points.

“It’s funny how things work out,” said Little. “Steve Coppell was my hero when I was growing up, I loved watching him play.

“He was the manager at Crystal Palace when I was coming through the youth system and then he was manager at Reading as well.”

Little scored five goals in that promotion season and played 24 Premier League games the following season at the age of 31.

“My one regret is that I didn’t get to the Premier League sooner,” added Little.

“We deserved to get in the play-offs a couple of times at Burnley but it never quite happened.

“It was a great opportunity to play at the top level with Reading and I was playing the best football of my career but I started to struggle with a bit of an Achilles problem and that was a bad time for me.”

Little made just two appearances for Reading the following season and at the start of the 2008/09 season he went to Portsmouth on loan where he played in one of the most memorable matches of his career.

Portsmouth had won the FA Cup the year before and were playing in the UEFA Cup when AC Milan were the visitors to Fratton Park.

“I was 33 and all of a sudden I was playing against AC Milan,” said Little. “That was probably the most memorable match of my career.

“When you play in England you always know there is a chance you will get a big cup draw, but you never dream of playing against AC Milan, it was incredible.”

Little was involved in one of Portsmouth’s goals as the home side went 2-0 up.

“We played really well,” added Little. “It was a brilliant atmosphere at Fratton Park. We were 2-0 up with about five minutes to go and they managed to pinch a 2-2 draw.

“I’ve never been much of a shirt-swapper and I didn’t bother that day, for me it was just about the memories of playing AC Milan.”

Little played only seven more times for Portsmouth before he returned to Reading’s promotion battle in the Championship, and a play-off semi-final against Burnley.

“I had a feeling it was going to happen like that,” added Little. “In a way I was pleased that if it wasn’t going to be us going up it would be Burnley.”

Burnley won 1-0 in the first-leg at Turf Moor thanks to a late Graham Alexander penalty but Little did not feature in the game.

In the return leg at the Madejski Stadium he came off the bench, but Burnley ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Martin Paterson and Steven Thompson.

“It was fantasy stuff for Burnley,” said Little. “We were a bit unlucky but the two goals Burnley scored were goal of the season contenders, they were unreal strikes.

“I think Burnley had three shots on target across the two games, but when they made it to the final I was delighted they won.

“It summed up my time in the play-offs, they were never any good to me, I needed to go up automatically or it didn’t happen.”

That bad luck continued as Little moved to Wrexham.

In his first season Wrexham were beaten by Luton in the play-off semi-finals despite finishing 18 points ahead of them in the league.

And this season they were beaten in the final at Wembley by Newport County.

“I’ve really enjoyed it at Wrexham but it’s disappointing not to have gone up in those two seasons, Wrexham should be a league club,” added Little.

The defeat against Newport County was Wrexham’s, and Little’s, second visit to Wembley in six weeks.

At least there was happier news from their first visit as they won the FA Trophy against Grimsby.

“I hadn’t been to Wembley in my whole career,” added Little, “and then I went twice in six weeks with Wrexham.

“It was great to win the FA Trophy there but I think promotion was what everyone really wanted.”

Little, now 37, was released by Wrexham at the end of season, and while he hasn’t found a new club yet, he is keeping his options open.

But for now he is starting to write a book on his career.

“Somebody mentioned writing a book when I was at Wrexham so I thought I would give it go,” he added.

“I’ve got hundreds of stories to get in and plenty from my time at Burnley, it could end a bit like Lord of the Rings.”