Ricky Little

Ricky Little (born 20 May 1989) is a Scottish footballer who last played as a defender for Arbroath in the Scottish Championship.

Ricky Little

Personal information
Full name	Ricky Little
Date of birth	(1989-05-20) 20 May 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth	Stevenston, Scotland
Position(s)	Centre-back, right-back
Youth career
	Ayr United
	Ardrossan Winton Rovers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
–2007	Ardrossan Winton Rovers
2007–2010	Partick Thistle	4	(0)
2008	→ Queen's Park (loan)	11	(0)
2009	→ Queen's Park (loan)	7	(0)
2010–2013	Queen's Park	116	(1)
2013–2024	Arbroath	306	(11)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 03:25, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Career

Little began his youth career on the books of the Ayr United youth squad and Ardrossan Winton Rovers,^[1] and he captained Scotland schoolboys under-18s in season 2006–07.

When he moved into the senior game, he featured on the subs bench^[2] for the Partick Thistle first team several times to cover for injury under Ian McCall.

Little was sent on a month's loan to Queen's Park on 17 September 2008, as he was too old to play for the Firhill side's under 19 side.^[3]

Little joined up with Queen's Park again on loan for two months in November 2009.^[4] Following his release from the Jags in Jan 2010, he rejoined Queen's Park permanently until the end of the season.^[5] He signed a new contract with Queen's Park at the beginning of season 2010–11 and was nominated for PFA Scotland Scottish Third Division Player of the Year at the end of a season that also saw him named club captain.^[6]

After spending three years at Queen's Park, in June 2013, Arbroath manager Paul Sheerin signed Little to replace Stuart Malcolm who signed for Forfar Athletic.^[7] Shortly after joining the club, he suffered an injury in a Scottish Challenge Cup match against Stenhousemuir,^[8] which kept him out for six months.^[9]

On 2 May 2015, Little scored from his own half as Arbroath beat Berwick Rangers 5–0.^[10] He would go on to become a mainstay of the Arbroath defence, which saw him once again named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year for Scottish League One in 2015–16.^[11] He was also part of the squads that won the 2016–17 Scottish League Two and 2018–19 Scottish League One titles.^[12]

Career statistics

As of match played 18 January 2020

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Scottish Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Partick Thistle	2007–08[13]	Scottish First Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	2008–09[14]		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	2009–10[15]		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Queen's Park (loan)	2008–09[14]	Scottish Second Division	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
Queen's Park (loan)	2009–10[15]	Scottish Third Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Queen's Park	2009–10[15]	Scottish Third Division	17	0	0	0	0	0	2[a]	0	19	0
	2010–11[16][17][18]		35	1	1	0	1	0	4[b]	0	41	1
	2011–12[19][17]		33	0	4	0	1	0	3[c]	0	41	0
	2012–13[20][17]		31	0	3	0	3	0	2[c]	1	39	1
	Total		116	1	8	0	5	0	11	1	140	2
Arbroath	2013–14[21]	Scottish League One	10	0	0	0	0	0	1[c]	0	11	0
	2014–15[22][17][23]	Scottish League Two	25	2	5	0	1	0	3[d]	0	34	2
	2015–16[24]		33	1	3	0	1	0	1[c]	0	38	1
	2016–17[25]		34	2	2	0	2	0	2[c]	1	40	3
	2017–18[26]	Scottish League One	35	0	2	0	4	0	3[e]	0	44	0
	2018–19[27]		36	3	1	0	4	0	2[c]	0	43	3
	2019–20[28]	Scottish Championship	20	0	3	0	2	0	2[c]	0	27	0
	Total		193	8	16	0	14	0	14	1	237	9
Career total			331	9	25	0	19	0	25	2	400	11

1. Appearances in the Second Division play-offs
2. Two appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup and two appearances in the Second Division play-offs
3. One appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup and two appearances in the Second Division play-offs
4. One appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup and two appearances in the League One play-offs
5. One appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup and two appearances in the League One play-offs

Honours

Club

Arbroath

• Scottish League Two: 2016–17
• Scottish League One: 2018–19^[12]

Individual

• Scottish League One Player of the Month: November 2018^[29]
• PFA Scotland Scottish Third Division Team of the Year: 2011–12,^[30] 2012–13^[31]
• PFA Scotland Scottish League Two Team of the Year: 2015–16,^[11] 2016–17^[32]
• PFA Scotland Scottish League One Team of the Year: 2018–19^[33]

References

1. "LITTLE MEANS A LOT AT QUEEN'S PARK". Scottish Professional Football League. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
2. "Partick Thistle 2–1 Ayr United". ptfc.co.uk. 24 November 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
3. "Little loaned out to Queen's Park". BBC Sport. 17 September 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
4. "PLAYER LEAVES ON LOAN". Partick Thistle F.C. 5 November 2009. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
5. Wilson, Fraser (22 January 2010). "Queen's Park Finalise Ricky Little Signing". The Glaswegian. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
6. "Scotland's player of the year awards nominees announced". BBC Sport. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
7. "Spiders lose skipper Little". Evening Times. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
8. "LITTLE BLOW IS A BIG ONE FOR ARBROATH". Scottish Professional Football League. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
9. "BIG GAMES KEEP COMING FOR LITTLE". Scottish Professional Football League. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
10. "Bounce blunder caps keeper's bad day". BBC Sport. 6 May 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
11. "PFA SCOTLAND TEAMS OF THE YEAR". Scottish Professional Football League. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
12. "ARBROATH'S TITLE IN NUMBERS". Scottish Professional Football League. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
13. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
14. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
15. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
16. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
17. Ricky Little at Soccerway. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
18. "Bo'Ness 2 Queens Pk 1". Sky Sports. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
19. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
20. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
21. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
22. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
23. "Hamilton Academical 2–1 Arbroath". BBC Sport. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
24. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
25. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
26. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
27. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
28. "Games played by Ricky Little in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
29. "LEAGUE 1 AWARD FOR LITTLE". Scottish Professional Football League. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
30. Ross, Jack (2 May 2012). "PFA SCOTLAND DIVISION THREE TEAM OF THE YEAR". PFA Scotland. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
31. Ross, Jack (2 May 2013). "PFA SCOTLAND TEAMS OF THE YEAR". PFA Scotland. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
32. "PFA SCOTLAND TEAMS OF THE YEAR". Scottish Professional Football League. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
33. @PFAScotland (5 May 2019). "And the League 1 Team of the Year 2019 is...congratulations to all the players #PFAS #ToY" (Tweet). Retrieved 25 August 2019 – via Twitter.

External links

• Ricky Little at Soccerbase