GLEN LITTLE reckons Wrexham could be flourishing in the Football League if they hadn’t run into a Jamie Vardy inspired Fleetwood Town.

The former Premier League winger was convinced by Dean Saunders to head to The Racecourse back in 2011 and help the Reds end their Football League exile.

It was a remarkable 2011/12 season for Wrexham, who saw Saunders replaced by player/boss Andy Morrell in September as the ex-Wales and Liverpool striker headed for then Championship outfit Doncaster Rovers, but even 98 points weren’t enough to pip Fleetwood to the National League title.

Vardy, who went on to win the Premier League with Leicester, as well as 26 England caps, struck 25 goals, and with former Wrexham hitman, Andy Mangan, adding 17, the Cod Army recorded 103 points to win promotion at the Reds’ expense.

Talking to Undr the Cosh podcast, Little said: “We had a good team and if we had gone up it was that situation where we’d have done well in League Two as well.

“Fleetwood are in League One now and they’ve kicked on, and the size of Wrexham, if that team had gone up, we would have been more than good enough in League Two, seven in the play-offs and a lot of dead wood.”

While Wrexham’s promotion challenge fell flat in the play-off semi-finals as they lost to Luton, who went on to lose to Gary Mills’ York City at Wembley, Little also failed his own personal challenge - keeping Lee Fowler playing his best football at The Racecourse.

Fowler declared himself “not happy” with life at Wrexham without Saunders in charge and the talented playmaker made a January switch to Fleetwood, helping them pip the Reds to the title.

Little said: “Playing with Fowler...there’s a player who could have had a great career, but unfortunately he had the demons and ended up with Deano, who told me to come up and look after this boy.

“He said: ‘If you can keep Fowler right for nine months, we’ll win the league’. Unfortunately, I could only do it for four months, although he did end up winning the league with Fleetwood.

“I tried, but trying to get Fowls to do anything... Deano said: ‘Glen, he thinks he’s head and shoulders above these boys, but with you he can’t tell you that, because you’ve been there, seen it and done it, so he will listen to you’.

“I suppose he did a bit, but with Fowls if you leave him alone for five minutes he’s dangerous.

“He was a great, great talent.”

The imposing figure of Mal Purchase was fitness coach at Wrexham, but he followed Saunders to Doncaster.

Little continued: “Mal told him he was going on this turkey and broccoli diet, but the problem with that is that you don’t pour a load of gravy over it!

“Mal was a tough man and helped get him playing, but he then went to Fleetwood.

“He did listen, but it would only last a month because he’d lose focus.

“I tried, and we missed Fowls, but fair play he went to Fleetwood and they ended up winning the league.”

Little’s move to Wrexham was one that very nearly didn’t happen despite the best of intentions from both parties.

The experienced campaigner was on trial at The Racecourse in January 2011, but off-field issues scuppered the move, which finally came to fruition in the summer of that year.

The 44-year-old remembers how the move came around, his dealings with Saunders. and a roller-coaster campaign.

He revealed: “Gareth Taylor, my mate from Burnley, was at Wrexham and he called me and said ‘Look Glen, we need to go up, we are in the Conference, it’s a big club Wrexham and we need to go up. Dean Saunders will give you a ring. If you’re not playing then help try and get us up’.

“I said ‘Okay, tell him to give me a ring’ and I got the phone call. I don’t know whether you know Dean Saunders, but I thought I could talk! You could imagine us having a phone call.

“I was just glad it was on his bill because it went on for three-and-a-half hours. He was telling me what a good player he was and I was telling him what a good player I was and we got on brilliantly.

“He said ‘come up to Wrexham, we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that, win promotion and have a great time’. I said I’d come up and give it a go, there were only a few months left of the season and they were in the play-off positions, so I thought I could go in for 10 games and go up, help Wrexham get back into the Football League.

“The first day of training I went into his office and he said: ‘Are you any good?’ I said: ‘Hang on a minute, have you seen me play?’ Straight away we got on great.

“I went to sign, but they had the transfer embargo so okay Deano, thanks for getting me up here, but they weren’t allowed to sign anyone.

“I thought that was it, back I went and I wasn’t sure whether I was going to play anymore, but in the summer he said we are going for it, we are going to sign this player and that player - we will win the league.

“I went up there and had a great start, although during pre-season they thought the club could fold.

“The supporters had to pay money to keep the club alive and the owner was having problems with the supporters.

“I was up there doing pre-season but I was thinking ‘Is there even going to be a club?’ Luckily the supporters saved the club and took it over.

“We had a great start and then Deano left. In fairness to him he got the Doncaster job in the Championship, so you can’t really blame him.

“Andy Morrell took over and he wanted me to stay on as well, we gave it a go and had a great season, unfortunately we got 98 points - probably the second best season of my career - and should have gone up, but there was one problem in Fleetwood and Jamie Vardy, who scored 30-odd goals.”

Little returned to Wrexham for another season, the 2012/13 campaign seeing Morrell’s Reds beaten 2-0 in the play-off final by Newport County, the veteran appearing as a late substitute with the scores level.

There was something to celebrate for Little before he departed north Wales, however, as Wrexham won the FA Trophy at Wembley.