Little challenges Wrexham to bounce back

By RICHARD WILLIAMS

23 April 2008

BRIAN LITTLE is challenging his young players to bounce back stronger after experiencing relegation with Wrexham.

Last night's 2-0 defeat against highflying Hereford United at Edgar Street has brought to an end Wrexham's 87 year membership of the Football League.

Rock bottom Wrexham cannot overtake nearest rivals Mansfield Town and Dagenham and Redbridge, who meet on the final day of the season.

Wrexham will now will line-up in the Blue Square Premier division next season.

Little had sympathy for the youngsters – brought into the side for the last two matches – who he said did not deserve to taste relegation – referring to the fact that it was experienced players who had left the Reds' struggling to avoid relegation.

And Little hopes they can learn from his experience of dropping into non-league football with Darlington in 1989, as he then guided The Quakers to immediate promotion and went on to enjoy personal success as a manager: "We are all disappointed and is a horrible day," he said today.

"In some respects, it is the wrong group of players to sample that, but there is a big lesson there for the rest of their lives.

"Sometimes when you taste something that horrible, you become very resilient and go on and do lots of things.

"I have just said to them in there that I first sampled this in my first role as a football manager and then in the next five years in a row went on to win two championships and go to three play-off finals.

"Because it hurt like heck and I was determined it would not happen again.

"It has taken 18-20 years to get it again and it still tastes every bit as bad as I remember.

"There is a lot of that team that don't carry the burden of a relegation, but there is lot of that team who are young lads who we will find a lot more about in the next year or two.

"The message would now be to try and bounce back as quick as we possibly can. That has to be our mentality."

Having only once been out of the drop zone since October, and been bottom of the table most of that time, relegation was inevitable for Wrexham who have been unable to make up ground on their fellow strugglers.

Little, who took over as manager in November and has extended his contract until the summer of 2010, has already revealed a major rebuilding programme ahead of the new season at The Racecourse. But he is still in the grips of disappointment at seeing Wrexham relegated.

"My role now is to be really ruthless because we have got a football team that has lost too many games this season, lost too many games under me, and lost too many games for the last three seasons now," said Little.

"There is a nucleus of players who have gone through that and when they go a goal behind, you can see them not really know how to get back in the game.

"There is a big job ahead.

"If I said I was relishing it right at this moment I would be wrong.

"But I have prepared myself for this and I know it is something I want to do.

"I am looking forward to it but I would like to wallow in this horrible feeling for a while just to wind myself enough to get ready for it."

Little has already watched a number of recent Blue Square Premier Division matches and he admitted getting immediate promotion is no foregone conclusion.

"We have specifically in the last week or two watched several teams and we already think several are better than us," said Little. "We are very much aware of what we have to do.

"It is hard but once everything settles down, once all our finances are put in place and we know how much our budget is going to be, then we need to get the best players we can for that kind of budget to try and be competitive.

"I think the most important thing for the club is to have a team that wins a certain amount of games because they have not won many games for the last three years and, we need to change that around."

Nearly 500 supporters saw Wrexham lose their Football League status at Hereford, and Little paid tribute them: "The fans were fantastic. We are all gutted, and we are gutted for them," he added. "They have had a real rough ride for quite some time and you can feel for them.

"They have got a club. I have been to quite a few supporters' club meetings in the last month or two and I think they are aware of how big a job it is.

"They are ready – they have steeled themselves – and they are ready to support for the future.

"We thank them for that and I am sure, given the right time, their team will bounce back.

"There are so many clubs we can look at and say, 'we can do that'.

"All of those things will be put to our new players when they come here, and to the players who stay here – about being successful.

"There is a massive job for everybody – myself, the players, the fans and the people who own the club – but we're all in it together."