The Longside Reference

Name: Glen Matthew Little

D.O.B: 15th October 1975 (Wimbledon)

Clubs:Crystal Palace, Derry City(Loan)Reading(loan), Glentoran, Bolton(loan), Reading, Portsmouth, Burnley

Fee Payed by Burnley: £100k

Signed by Adrian Heath

Burnley Debut:20th Dec 1996 Peterborough

Last appearance for Burnley:9th May 2004 Sunderland

Burnley Stats:237(35)Games 36 Goals

Each and every Burnley fan has a different view of "Blakey" or "Glenda" Little, my own is the fantastic goal he scored against Bristol Rovers, to some the greatest goal ever scored would be Tommy Cummings magnificent strike in the 50s against Jackie Millburn's great Newcastle side, others it would be Robbie Blake's free kick against Preston few might even go for Joey Gudjohnsen's thunderbolt against Preston, but mine would be the goal Super Glen scored against the pirates.

Some believe he wanted out, wanted a higher wage, wanted a higher grade of football? To me it was his fantastic mesmerising runs with the ball, the ungainly gangly running style of our right winger who was built like a hod carrier.

Born in Wimbledon in 1975, Glen took the strange route to the highs of the premiership, He started out at Crystal Palace, but would not make the first team down at Selhurst Park, instead they loaned him out to Irish side Derry City he only played one game, Being given a transfer to Glentoran.

Glentoran a name that has institutionalized itself with Burnley over the Years, The great McIlroy signed from the Irish club in 1950, followed by Alex Elder and Sammy Todd other connections would be Tommy Cassidy, Paul Dixon, Mark Duerden and of cause "Glenda".

Super Glen would be a hero for the Irish Premier League side, He is widely regarded as the best player to play in the Irish league in the 90s, his cult status was even more enhanced when Glen scored a spectacular goal in the 1996 Irish Cup Final. In his 75 games for Glentoran Glen would score 26 goals, not bad for a winger who had just turned 21.

Glen Little was transferred to Turf Moor in November 1996 for a fee of £100,000,Little's transfer deal to Burnley also culminated with Burnley visiting the Oval in East Belfast on two occasions for preseason friendlies prior to the 1996/97 and 1997/98 campaigns.

Signed by Adrian Heath, Glen had to wait for his debut which came via the substitute bench when Little replaced Jamie Hoyland on 20th December 1996, Burnley lost that game 2-3 at London Road. It didn't take long for Heath to start Glen against it would be away from Turf Moor this time at Bristol City with Burnley again losing this time 2-1, Little played 9 times in his first season although 4 were from the bench.

Enter Chris Waddle, with Heath stepping down to take the assistants managers job at Everton, the former England winger was to take charge at Turf Moor, things must have looked rosy for Little, a man with such a similar playing style to his own would be his boss! (or so you would have thought eh?).

Rosy No, Waddle came in and commanded the No7 shirt and the right wing berth leaving Glen Little kicking his heals in the reserves, just 2 substitute appearances until late December as Roeder (Waddles Assistant) famously commented that Little 'wasn't fit to lace Waddle's boots', well maybe in 1990 when Waddle was in his prime but not in 1997 when the Turf was crying out for someone with the ability to win a game.

With Burnley lying rock bottom of the second division, Little got his chance and with his chance Burnley with "Glenda" on the right went on to win enough games to secure Burnley's Place in division two, Glen managed 4 Goals in his 19(5) League games.

When Stan Ternent arrived at Turf Moor, Little became a fixture in the right-wing slot, linking up especially well with full-back Dean West. In Burnley's 1999–2000 Division Two promotion season, Little scored that memorable goal at home to Bristol Rovers, as well as the winning goal away at Scunthorpe top seal the promotion back to the now named Championship.

In 200/01 With Burnley hoping just to cement their place with England's second tier elite, Little would be turning out great performances week in week out, Burnley not only survived their first season back but finished in 7th place just 2 points off the Play-Offs. Little would make 27 starts as football at this level became very much a squad game, he entered the fray from the bench a further 7 times scoring on three occasions.

A missed penalty a huge offer reported and turned down, an English legend and an ever so close free kick, Burnley with Little playing some of the best right wing football since the Halon days of the 60s, were looking a fantastic prospect to go straight up, until Christmas, Little missed a penalty and Burnley were severely stuffed 5-1 by Manchester City at Main Road, Chairman Kilby turned down a huge offer for our star player little reported to be in the region of £5million. In came Paul Gascoigne and for an inch or two Glen may have been walking out at Wembley in Claret n Blue. But it wasn't to be Gazza's two free kicks in the dying minutes just wouldn't go in. Burnleys season was at a close But Glen Little was still getting the headlines he scored 10 goals from 33/7 games.

2002-03 was a distinctly average season as far as League football was concerned but Little did manage 28/5 games notching a respectable 5 goals in the process, it would be his cup form that yet again had the premiership scouts flocking to Turf Moor his cameo from the bench where famously helped Burnley beat Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup in 2002 after a magnificent, game turning performance. Little was turning heads, In September 2003 he moved to Bolton Wanderers on loan in a deal which involved Delroy Facey and Gareth Farrelly moving to Burnley.

Little would finally make his Premiership debut for Bolton against Wolverhampton Wanderers and set up the equalising goal for Kevin Davies but his time at Bolton was brief. Little wages were becoming a burden to the now skint Clarets, after the ITVDigital debacle.

Two seasons after the offer of £5Million was turned down, Glen Little would leave on a free Transfer, Burnley just could not afford to keep paying the high wages that ITV Digital was to supplement with the promise payment that Burnley or any other team would never receive. Glen had to go he still managed 33 starts in his last season as a Claret.

The limelight for Little's last game for Burnley would be shared with both Stan Ternent and Paul Weller, he did however manage to wrestle some back by scoring Burnleys goal in the 2-1 defeat to Sunderland.

Little finally moved to Reading in the summer of 2004,and was promptly renamed "Blakey" due to a perceived resemblance to Stephen Lewis's character from the sitcom On the Buses. Little previously had a loan spell at the club in 2003 when Burnley needed to cut costs. Reading and Little won promotion to the Premier League in 2005/06 Little scored 5 goals for the Champions newly crowned Champions, with 14 assists which was more than any other Player in the League.

Little started the 2006-07 season on the sidelines due to an injury sustained during the close season. Seol Ki-Hyeon took Little's place in the Reading team while he was out injured, but due to an injury to Dave Kitson, Seol was pushed up front, freeing the right wing for Little to return to the starting line-up.

After this brief success Glen slipped down the pecking order in Reading's first season in the top flight, but according to former England right winger and Glens new Manager Steve Coppell he remained an "important squad player". Glens time at Reading was full of injury troubles but he was still offered a one year extension to keep him at the Madjaski Stadium till 2008.

Glen's Royals record stands at 96 games played and 9 goals scored, all of which was in the Premiership. Glen joined Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth after Readings relegation in 2007/08, and with  Little's injuries leading to a lack of first team action during the 2007-2008 season, he opted to sign for Portsmouth on a one-year contract, on 20 June 2008.

Little is still playing at Portsmouth and recently put his wits against AC Milan of Italy in the UEFA Cup, still smiling, still with the ungainly playing style, still a Claret Legend.