Brian Little has a passion for motorcycles. That only partly explains his delight in swapping tracksuit and baseball cap for leathers and crash helmet.
The helmet is better at hiding the grey hair, and the increasingly grey features that have latterly made him look as beleaguered as an American president. The motorcyclist is anonymous. He could be anyone, although many could not afford the £8,000 he paid for his Yamaha Virago 1100 Cruiser.
"I regard golf as a waste of time. One round takes a whole day out of your life. But an hour on the bike is a great way to get rid of frustrations and escape the pressures."
Lately, however, the footballers of Aston Villa have had so much more success than their manager in the art of travelling incognito that there are some supporters who wonder whether this is a disguise at all, or whether this really is a side of terminal ordinariness; in a troubling time of reassessment they are also questioning whether the man in charge is, in managerial terms, little or large.
This is a big club. And there are plans for a £16 million development which would increase capacity from 39,000 to 50,000. In May they floated on the Stock Exchange.
They should have a permanent address in the top six of the Premiership, or at least reside in that opulent neighbourhood; they are 13th and although surely too good to go down they are close enough to danger to feel the heat of the scuffle.
Their defence, as in the 5-0 defeat by Blackburn, can display an alarming innocence, there is a persevering sameness about their midfield and their attack, in which Stan Collymore strives to be the footballing equivalent of the cricketer Chris Lewis, is unpredictable at best.
Tomorrow they play Newcastle and those with a nose for symbolism will see some significance in a match between two great clubs who find themselves on a draughty street corner of history with a pile of Big Issues.
The post-match press conference promises to be no more entertaining. On one side will be Glum Kenny, the man who in a single year transformed Newcastle from being England's romantic favourites to the side everyone wants to see beaten.
On the other side will be Sulky Brian, an essentially decent man but stubborn and single-minded, who yesterday took another step towards anonymity when he cancelled his usual pre-match press conference. He feels miffed. The wise manager rubs along with the media, even if he occasionally sups with a long spoon; those who get silly, as Little is at the moment, often discover that they have made a pen for their own obitiuary.
Little (44), has been upset by criticism of his £7 million purchase of Collymore from Liverpool, even though his critics have been vindicated. Paying such a sum for such a man was a gamble bordering on personal vanity. He really wanted Andy Cole.
The same critics had been calling for the introduction of Lee Hendrie to midfield. When Hendrie finally played he produced a blinder in last week's 4-0 FA Cup win over West Bromwich Albion. So why wasn't he played before? And why wasn't Savo Milosevic shown the door earlier? Little is brooding in his bunker, where a sourness has infiltrated his deep Durham vowels.
There is no doubting the quality of Little the player. In the dead days, when Michael Jackson was black and Des O'Connor was white, he was a footballer of the first rank. With fast feet and fast thoughts he was the perfect foil for the traditional centreforward and but for injury would have built on his solitary, eye-catching England performance.
Since giving up playing at 27 he has displayed other qualities. Middlesbrough, with Little as coach, won successive promotions. So did Darlington, with Little manager, and at Leicester there were three play-offs in as many seasons before a Premiership place was won.
He took charge at Villa Park in November, 1994 and transformed a struggling side. In his first full season they were fourth and won the League Cup; last season they were fifth. But then he ran out of ideas and his successful tactic of playing three at the back, with a five-man midfield, was destroyed when he chose to play three up front.
His job, immediately, seems safe despite all those votes of confidence from Deadly Doug Ellis; his contract still has almost four years to run. Then there are the cups. They are in the last eight of the UEFA and play Coventry in the fifth round of the FA - Coventry have never won at Villa Park.
If the cups end badly and poor league form continues Little may be invited to get on his Yamaha.
