These English divisions are like the Grand National. It’s not a thing of beauty, it’s endurance. Not everyone can be a success down here
GRAHAM’S MESSAGE TO NEILSON
GRAHAM Alexander likens the challenge to the Grand National and there are few men in the game with better course and distance form in the English lower leagues to advise a newcomer of the stamina requirements, obstacles and pitfalls that lie ahead.
Alexander has 20 seasons’ experience as a player outside the top flight and five years managing Fleetwood and Scunthorpe in League Two and League One. The 45-year-old could script the ultimate survival guide for those tiers of the game.
That is a read Robbie Neilson would be well worth consulting as he seeks to plot his way through a first rookie winter south of the border, his tenure on league business with MK Dons having begun with a 1-0 win in yesterday’s grudge game against AFC Wimbledon.
Alexander will not formally meet Neilson again until a Good Friday clash four games from the end of the marathon League One campaign but has already welcomed a former Scotland team-mate to the division with positive news on his squad inheritance at Stadium MK.
Alexander, who guided Scunthorpe to a 2-1 victory over MK Dons in October, offers a review of Neilson’s players that suggests they should not be scrapping just above the relegation zone a year on from dropping down from the Championship.
However, there are myriad tests for a manager new to the demands of the division and fresh from the Ladbrokes Premiership in Scotland. Alexander, who battled through a 59-game season in 2013/14 steering Fleetwood to promotion, admits with a knowing grin that he adores the challenge.
He said: ‘I’ve been through it many times and these English divisions are like the Grand National. That’s it. It’s not a race of beauty. It’s endurance. It’s stamina.
‘There’s quality in there, without a doubt. But if you haven’t got that resilience and endurance to do it over 10 months, two or three games a week, consistently, then you’re not going to be successful.
‘There’s a toughness about the English divisions that tests everyone. Not everyone can succeed in it. I played with a lot of lads who played in Scotland, the likes of Callum Davidson, Steven Thompson, who had to get used to it. And one of the biggest things is travel.
‘In Scotland, you can get where you need to go within a day, apart from a couple of the real northern ones. Here, you can be on a bus for seven hours to Hartlepool or Yeovil. That side is the big shock. The consistent midweek games is another big change from Scotland.
‘It’s something you must become accustomed to as player, coach, manager. You have to be able to prepare and recover in a very quick space of time. It’s constant. No one gives you any sort of loosening in expectations just because you’ve had six games in 18 days. You’ve got to win the next one as well.
‘I like it. I like it because it tests you physically and mentally. If you have success at the end of it, you can really look back with a sense of pride and say: “We’ve been through that together and come out the other side”.
‘It’s great. If you love football, you’re not going to get much more football in these divisions. That’s the way I look at it.’
Alexander featured in several Scotland squads with Neilson and started in the ex-Hearts head coach’s only senior appearance — a 2-0 defeat to Ukraine in 2006. Neilson went on to sample a snapshot of playing in England with Leicester City and on loan at Brentford.
On returning south in his second coaching gig, Neilson appears to have chosen well — a club where chairman Pete Winkelman kept Karl Robinson at the helm for six years. That was the thirdlongest stint in the country behind Arsene Wenger and Exeter’s Paul Tisdale.
Alexander said: ‘Robbie did a great job at Hearts. He’s got every opportunity because he’s joined a fantastic club where the chairman gives managers backing. For his first opportunity, he’s going to a good one.
‘We played them in October and they’ve some really good players, an excellent squad. I know they’ve been disappointing coming down from the Championship but, in their other League One seasons, they were really consistent.
‘He’s also got Stevie Crawford, who played in England. So he will know a bit about it and they’ll have plenty of people to speak to. As an intelligent guy, he’ll get up to speed.’