BACK IN BUSINESS
The Theatre of Dreams will forever be on Alexander’s doorstep
New Salford City manager Graham Alexander is plotting a Football League return with the Ammies
IT’S a long way from Old Trafford to Salford City – metaphorically, at least. But if there’s one man who won’t mind going back to basics, it’s Graham Alexander. The 46-year-old was this week named manager of the Ammies just eight years after facing several of the club’s big-name backers in a Premier League clash at the Theatre of Dreams. As a manager, the former Scottish international also led Fleetwood out of League Two and twice took Scunthorpe into the League One playoffs. Given such an illustrious CV, managing a side fresh out of National League North seems like a sudden fall from grace. Few bosses, however, are more down-to-earth than Alexander.
Partly it was his humble upbringing in Coventry. “My dad was a lorry driver and he had to get up at 3am every day,” said Alexander, who spent every other Saturday at Highfield Road with his old man and was at Wembley when the Sky Blues lifted the FA Cup in 1987.
“Even in his sixties, he was up for five hours before I’d even got out of bed. How could I not feel lucky to be a footballer?”
Partly, too, an old-fashioned apprenticeship at Scunthorpe, the club he joined straight from school in 1988.
Kindred spirit
“Glanford Park was brand new then,” he recalled in 2016. “I virtually cleaned every bit of it, worked in the ticket office and club shop. Those seven years gave me the grounding for the rest of my career.”
Along with a fine range of passing and an incredible prowess at penalties, that mixture of work ethic and perspective is the defining characteristic of the former Burnley and Preston defender’s career.
“In my 53 years in the game, I can say with complete candour that never have I come across as dedicated a player as Graham Alexander,” said the former Scotland coach Craig Brown, who managed Alexander at Preston. “Every training session was like a cup final. No player applied himself more diligently.”
Nor for so long. Alexander was 17 when he made his Scunthorpe debut and 40 by the time he kicked his last ball for Preston in 2012.
Along the way he became only the second outfield player in history to play 1,000 games in England, won the first of 40 Scotland caps aged 31 and, at 37, holds the record for the oldestever Premier League debutant.
Tony Ford, the only other player to reach the 1,000-game milestone, actually played alongside Alexander at Scunthorpe in 1994 and instantly recognised a kindred spirit.
“I knew he’d be a long time in the game because of his attitude,” said Ford, now 59. “He just wanted to play every Saturday and he’s not changed one bit. He loves training and he always has to be a winner – whether it’s
playing five-a-side on Monday morning or a pre-season run.”
Alexander himself, however, feels he didn’t make the most of those early days at Scunthorpe and Luton, saying he got “cynical and blasé” about being a footballer.
It was only after a bargain £50,000 move to David Moyes’ Preston in 1999 that he realised his potential.
“Other managers spoke of my positive points, but David was the only one who picked out my bad habits and the things I could improve,” he recalls. “He was on my case for three years and we had some big rows. I thought he was picking on me but now I realise he was doing it to help me. He turned my career around and I owe him a lot.”
For his part, Moyes later admitted his regret at leaving Alexander behind when he joined Everton in 2002.
“He was an incredibly good football player,” said the Scot. “He lacked a bit of pace, which he would admit, but his passing was as good as anybody. In hindsight, maybe I made a mistake that I didn’t try to bring him with me. He was that good.” Remarkably for a man who spent the majority of his career at right-back, he also scored 129 goals, thanks in no small part to the flawless technique that saw him convert 77 of 83 career penalties. “His record is no fluke because he would take 30 or 40 every day after training,” said Sean Gregan, a teammate at Preston. After 400 games, Preston let Alexander go in 2007, unwilling to give a 35year-old a two-year deal. It was a bad error. Teamed up with a likeminded Owen Coyle at Burnley and converted to a central midfielder, he played in all 61 games as the Clarets won promotion to the Premier League in 2009. And while his peers were buying Bentleys and holidaying in the Caribbean, Alexander and his childhood sweetheart Karen were still taking the kids away in his battered VW camper van.
Retirement in 2012 was followed by three years in the dugout at Fleetwood, followed by another two at Scunthorpe.
Ultimately sacked by both, Alexander faced vociferous criticism from Scunny supporters for his playing style and team selection, especially this season after falling out of title contention in League One.
Yet he was loved by the dressing room and the stats – promotion from League Two with Fleetwood, consecutive play-off finishes at Scunthorpe and a career win ratio of 42 per cent – speak of a job well done.
Now a push for the Championship has been replaced by a project in Non-League, but Alexander certainly won’t be feeling sorry for himself.
“I took me 20 years to reach the Premier League,” he once said. “But it wasn’t a slog. I was still living my dream. I still feel that way now – and I want my players to cherish their careers like that.”