Ricky Little

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
Team information
Current team
 Beith Juniors
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)

Ricky Little (born 20 May 1989) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a defender for Beith Juniors in the West of Scotland Football League.

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]

Following his release from Arbroath in the summer of 2024, Little returned to junior football, signing for Beith Juniors in the West of Scotland Football League.[13]

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[14] Scottish First Division 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
2008–09[15] 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2009–10[16] 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[15] Scottish Second Division 11 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
Queen's Park (loan) 2009–10[16] Scottish Third Division 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Queen's Park 2009–10[16] Scottish Third Division 17 0 0 0 0 0 2[a] 0 19 0
2010–11[17][18][19] 35 1 1 0 1 0 4[b] 0 41 1
2011–12[20][18] 33 0 4 0 1 0 3[c] 0 41 0
2012–13[21][18] 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[22] Scottish League One 10 0 0 0 0 0 1[c] 0 11 0
2014–15[23][18][24] Scottish League Two 25 2 5 0 1 0 3[d] 0 34 2
2015–16[25] 33 1 3 0 1 0 1[c] 0 38 1
2016–17[26] 34 2 2 0 2 0 2[c] 1 40 3
2017–18[27] Scottish League One 35 0 2 0 4 0 3[e] 0 44 0
2018–19[28] 36 3 1 0 4 0 2[c] 0 43 3
2019–20[29] 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. ^ a b c d e f g 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

Individual

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. ^ a b "PFA SCOTLAND TEAMS OF THE YEAR". Scottish Professional Football League. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  12. ^ a b "ARBROATH'S TITLE IN NUMBERS". Scottish Professional Football League. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Beith Juniors sign Ricky Little after Arbroath departure". Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald. 1 July 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  14. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  15. ^ a b "Games played by Ricky Little in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  16. ^ a b c "Games played by Ricky Little in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  17. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  18. ^ a b c d Ricky Little at Soccerway. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Bo'Ness 2 Queens Pk 1". Sky Sports. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  21. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  22. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  23. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  24. ^ "Hamilton Academical 2–1 Arbroath". BBC Sport. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  25. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  26. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  27. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  28. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  29. ^ "Games played by Ricky Little in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  30. ^ "LEAGUE 1 AWARD FOR LITTLE". Scottish Professional Football League. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ 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.
  33. ^ "PFA SCOTLAND TEAMS OF THE YEAR". Scottish Professional Football League. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  34. ^ @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.