 Little kept Villa in the Premiership, and then reshaped the squad in the 1995 close-season by selling most of the club's older players and buying several younger ones.Villa won the 1996 League Cup with a win over Leeds United, reached the FA Cup semi-finals, and finished fourth in the Premiership in the 1995–96 season.In February 1998, with Villa standing 15th in the Premiership, and speculation rife that he would be sacked, Little resigned, stating that, "There were certain things going on behind the scenes which were affecting my own managerial position."