Wrexham are chasing promotion to the Championship, years after Glen Little saw his promotion dreams go up in smoke.
Wrexham defeated Stockport County on Saturday afternoon to move another step closer to the Championship.
Phil Parkinson has already won back-to-back promotions with Wrexham and is now chasing another.
Wycombe Wanderers have a game in hand on Wrexham but sit three points behind Parkinson’s side.
Wrexham fans are dreaming of a third straight promotion and will hope that the season doesn’t end like the 2011-12 campaign.
Glen Little on signing for Wrexham
Wrexham were gunning for promotion out of the National League back in the 2011-12 season.
Dean Saunders had guided Wrexham to the play-offs in 2011 but suffered a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Luton Town.
Against the backdrop of major financial problems, Wrexham vowed to go again – and enjoyed a remarkable season.
Wrexham racked up 98 points but were only able to finish second behind Fleetwood Town on 103 points.
Glen Little was part of that Wrexham squad and has previously spoken about how his move came about – and the pain of missing out on promotion.
The former Burnley winger, who played in the Premier League with Reading and Portsmouth, joined Wrexham in the summer 2011 at the age of 35.
Little told Under The Cosh that striker Gareth Taylor triggered the move, having played together at Burnley.
Saunders sold Little the dream of winning promotion with Wrexham, but initially couldn’t sign him due to the club’s transfer embargo.
The deal eventually went through, with Saunders continuing to push a promotion bid, tempting Little into signing.
“Gareth Taylor, my mate from Burnley, was at Wrexham, and he rang me and said ‘look Glen, we need to go up, Dean Saunders will give you a rang – if you’re not playing, just come and help us, try and get us up’. So I said ‘okay, tell him to give me a ring,’ said Little.
“He said ‘come up to Wrexham, we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do that, we’ll win promotion and we’ll have a great time,’ so I thought ‘go on Deano, I’ll come up, I’ll give it a go’. There was only a couple of months left of the season, they were in the play-off positions, so I thought I could just go in, play 10 games and go up and help Wrexham get back into the league.
“I went to sign but they had the transfer embargo because they hadn’t paid their bills. I thought was it and then wasn’t sure whether I was gonna play anymore, I just thought ‘should I give up?’. Then in the summer, [Saunders] said ‘no, look, we’re going for it, we’re gonna sign this player, that player, we’ll win the league – if you come up and give me one season, we’ll win the league,’ he added.
Glen Little on Jamie Vardy
Saunders had Wrexham challenging, but his exploits resulted in rival interest.
Doncaster Rovers snatched Saunders away and left Andy Morrell to step up as manager.
Wrexham fell just five points short of Fleetwood as Jamie Vardy smashed 31 league goals, earning himself a move to Leicester City.
Vardy went on to become a superstar, and Little suggested that he was the ‘one problem’ derailing Wrexham’s great season.
“He convinced me, one last season, let’s try and win promotion. I went up there, had a great start as well, although when I first went, they were thinking the club could fold. The supporters had to pay the money to try and keep the club going, we had a great start, and then Deano left.
“Andy Morrell took over and wanted me to stay on, we just gave it a go, had a great season and unfortunately got 96 points, probably the second-best season of my career, had a good run in the FA Cup and we should have gone up but there was one problem – Fleetwood with Jamie Vardy scoring about 30-odd goals and Fleetwood done us,” he added.
Wrexham were again beaten by Luton Town in the play-offs, missing out on promotion once again.
11 years later, Wrexham did finally get out of the National League and back into the EFL.
Now pushing for a place in the Championship, Wrexham could yet replace Luton in the second tier and truly exorcise the demons of those play-off defeats.