Graham Alexander

Graham Alexander (born 10 October 1971) is a professional football manager and former player who is the manager of League Two club Salford City. In a lengthy playing career, Alexander represented Scunthorpe United, Luton Town, Preston North End and Burnley. He also made 40 international appearances for Scotland.

This article is about the footballer. For the musician, see Graham Alexander (musician).

Graham Alexander

Alexander as manager of Salford City in 2020
Personal information
Full name	Graham Alexander[1]
Date of birth	(1971-10-10) 10 October 1971[1]
Place of birth	Coventry, England[2]
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Playing position(s)	Right back / Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team	Salford City (manager)
Youth career
1988–1990	Scunthorpe United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1988–1995	Scunthorpe United	159	(18)
1995–1999	Luton Town	150	(15)
1999–2007	Preston North End	352	(52)
2007–2011	Burnley	154	(20)
2011–2012	Preston North End	18	(2)
Total		833	(107)
National team
2002–2009	Scotland	40	(0)
Teams managed
2011–2012	Preston North End (caretaker)
2012–2015	Fleetwood Town
2016–2018	Scunthorpe United
2018–	Salford City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

For most of his career, Alexander played as a specialist at right back, but was also deployed in defensive midfield[3] early on in his career with Scunthorpe. He is the fourth oldest player to score in Premier League history.[4] He was also a penalty kick specialist. On 16 April 2011, in Burnley's win over Swansea City in a Championship match, Alexander became only the second outfield player in English football history to have made 1,000 professional appearances, after Tony Ford.[5] He is fourth on the list of footballers in England and Scotland by number of league appearances.

Alexander was appointed manager of Fleetwood Town in December 2012. He won the 2013–14 League Two play-offs and promotion to League One, but was sacked by Fleetwood in September 2015. He then managed Scunthorpe United for two years before being appointed manager of newly promoted National League club Salford City on 14 May 2018.

Club career

Early career

Alexander began his career in the late 1980s as a youth player with Scunthorpe United. He made his first-team debut on 27 April 1991, coming on as a substitute for Mark Hine, and signed his first professional contract the same year. In 1991–92, he established himself as a member of Scunthorpe's first team, usually playing at right back.

Luton Town

Alexander made over 200 appearances at Scunthorpe before moving to Luton Town for a transfer fee of £100,000.[6][7] He went on to make a similar number of appearances with Luton in his four years with the club.

Preston North End

In 1999 two clubs were vying for his signature; Burnley and Preston North End. Both clubs made offers for the player but Alexander opted for a move to Preston.[8] He became a first team regular at Deepdale, eventually club captain and an established set-piece taker, particularly in penalties.[9] Alexander stayed remarkably fit during his career, hardly ever suffering a major injury. However, during the 2000–01 season, he missed several weeks of the season after breaking his rib in an away match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.[10] During his eight years at Preston, Alexander made exactly 400 appearances for the club, with his 400th and final match coming against Colchester United on 25 August 2007.[11] He was also in the PFA's Championship Team of the Season for 2004–05[9]

During the summer of 2007 a number of clubs were linked with him including Crystal Palace who had a £50,000 bid turned down by Preston, who said: "He is club captain and a vital member of this squad and certainly not a player we will allow to leave."[12]

Burnley

On 29 August 2007, he made a surprise move to local rivals Burnley almost nine years after they had originally tried to sign him. The reasons cited for his departure were that Preston would not extend his contract by another year,[13] so when offered a two-year contract by Burnley the player accepted and made a £200,000 move to Turf Moor.[14] Preston chairman Derek Shaw did not want to lose the player and said:

We don't particularly want to sell Graham but he has the comfort of a two-year contract at Burnley whereas he only has one year here at Deepdale. We quite possibly would have renewed Graham's contract, he's a fit man.[14][15]

The £200,000 transfer money was made up of £100,000 payable in 2007 and the final £100,000 payable in the summer of 2008.[3]

In Burnley's promotion season in 2008–09 Alexander at the age of 37 played in all 61 league and cup games ending with the 1–0 play-off final victory over Sheffield United at Wembley which took Burnley back to the top flight of English football for the first time in 33 years.

On 29 June 2009, Alexander signed a new one-year contract at Burnley,[16] and on 15 August he became the oldest player to make a Premier League debut. On 19 September, he scored his first Premier League goal, a penalty, in a 3–1 win at home to Sunderland.[17] On 31 October 2009, He scored both goals in a 2–0 home win against Hull City.[18] A week later he then scored the first for Burnley, from the spot, at Manchester City in a thrilling 3–3 draw.[19] On 16 December, he scored his 100th league goal. He scored an equaliser against Arsenal, sending Gunners 'keeper Manuel Almunia the wrong way. On 10 April 2010, Alexander again scored twice against Hull City – both penalties – in a 4–1 win to take his tally for the season to eight, seven of which have been penalties. Alexander takes penalties in an unusual way, opting to use the outside of his foot rather than the inside. On 6 May 2010, he was named Burnley's Player of the Year for the 2009–10 season.[20]

On 5 August 2010, Burnley's first team manager, Brian Laws, named the 38-year-old as club captain for the 2010–11 season.[21] On Alexander's appointment, Laws said "Graham is the consummate professional who has been instrumental in the success that this club has seen in the past few seasons, so it was an easy choice."[21]

In April 2011, Alexander made his 1,000th senior appearance for club and country in a 2–1 win against Swansea City as an 87th-minute substitute.[5] Only Tony Ford has matched this feat as an outfield player.[5] At the end of the season, Alexander looked likely to leave Turf Moor, as he was linked with managerial jobs with Bury and Macclesfield Town, but Burnley boss Eddie Howe stated that he was still part of his plans for the following season.[22] On 4 July 2011, Alexander was released by Burnley.[23]

Return to Preston North End

Alexander returned to Preston North End on 3 August 2011, as he signed a one-year contract with the club.[24] He made his debut against Colchester United.

Alexander scored his first goal for Preston in four years with a trademark penalty in a 2–1 home win against Tranmere on 24 September 2011.[25] This was after his first penalty back in a Preston shirt was saved by Exeter's Artur Krysiak,[26] and before his third was saved by Lee Butcher of Leyton Orient.[27] His next penalty came in a penalty shootout against Rochdale in the Football League Trophy, which was slotted into the top corner after he was brought on as a substitute for Conor McLaughlin especially to take a penalty in the shootout.[28] However, he missed his next penalty, again in the JPT, and again in a penalty shootout, this time against Chesterfield. He was the third Preston player to take a penalty in this shootout, and he blazed it over the bar, much to the disbelief of the fans. Preston's next penalty-taker, Paul Coutts, had his penalty saved, and then when the next penalty was scored by Chesterfield's Alexandre Mendy, Preston got knocked out of the tournament.[29] Alexander started the next league game against Stevenage but was replaced through injury by Steven Smith after just 3 minutes,[30] after which Alexander did not feature for the Lilywhites for a long time, and there was speculation that he had played his last game for Preston, and in his career.

After the sacking of Phil Brown a few games down the line, he became joint-caretaker manager, alongside David Unsworth. His first match in joint-charge was an away match against MK Dons, which they won 1–0. Just before what was to be an ordinary match against Wycombe Wanderers, it was announced that Graham Westley would replace them at the helm of Preston, and that Wycombe was to be the last match in charge for the pairing of Alexander and Unsworth. They won the match 3–2.[31]

Playing his final game on 28 April 2012 against Charlton Athletic, Alexander came on as a substitute for Max Ehmer in the 84th minute. This was supposed to be a cameo appearance to allow the Preston supporters to show their appreciation of his service to the club. However, with Preston losing 1–2 in stoppage time, they were awarded a free-kick 25 yards from Charlton's goal. Alexander stepped up to curl the ball around the wall and inside the near post, scoring with the very last kick of his career.[32]

On 20 June 2012, Alexander was appointed Head of Youth Development. Chairman Peter Ridsdale said "He's got over 1,000 games under his belt, he's a hero here and what better person to head our youth development."[33]

International career

Born in England to a Scottish father, Alexander was eligible to play for either England or Scotland.[34] Before his first international call, Alexander said, "To be honest, since I started playing football, I've had two ambitions: to play in the Premier League, and to play for Scotland. I've been brought up supporting Scotland as far back as I can remember."[34] This ambition was fulfilled when he made his Scotland debut on 17 April 2002 in a 2–1 friendly defeat to Nigeria at Pittodrie Stadium.[35] Alexander was part of the Scotland squad who won the annual Japanese Kirin Cup tournament in 2006, beating Bulgaria 5–1 before drawing 0–0 with Japan.[36] He gained his 25th Scotland cap in a 1–0 home victory against France.[37] He gained a total of 40 caps for Scotland. Alexander was shown only one yellow card while playing for Scotland, against New Zealand in May 2003.

Managerial career

Fleetwood Town

On 6 December 2012, Alexander was appointed as the new manager of League Two club Fleetwood Town.[38] Upon his arrival, Fleetwood were sat in seventh place in the league, though had recently been eliminated from the FA Cup by Aldershot Town.[38]

In his second season in charge, Alexander guided Fleetwood to promotion by winning the promotion play-offs, but was subsequently sacked in September 2015, following a poor start to their 2015–16 campaign in League One.[39]

Scunthorpe United

On 22 March 2016, Alexander was appointed as the new manager of League One side Scunthorpe United.[40] In his first full season in charge, Alexander guided the club to qualification for the promotion play-offs where they suffered a 3–2 aggregate defeat to eventual champions Millwall.[41]

On 24 March 2018, it was confirmed that Alexander had parted ways with Scunthorpe after two years in association with the club; his side had gone eight games without a win, though left the club sat in fifth place.[42]

Salford City

On 14 May 2018, Alexander was appointed as the new manager of newly promoted National League club Salford City, signing onto a four-year contracts, following the departures of previous joint-managers Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson.[43] In his first season in charge, Alexander guided Salford to qualification for the promotion play-offs,[44] in which they recorded a narrow 4–3 penalty success over Eastleigh, having drawn the match 1–1, to reach the final at Wembley Stadium, where they were 3–0 victorious over A.F.C. Fylde to reach promotion to League Two.[45]

During his second season in charge, Alexander guided Salford to the final of the EFL Trophy, though the final of the competition (which was initially scheduled to take place on 4 April 2020) was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which also resulted in the league season to be postponed.[46] In May 2020, clubs of League Two and League One voted to end the season prematurely, with the final standings being decided in a points-per-game format, which resulted in Salford finishing in eleventh place.[47]

Career statistics

Club

Source:[48][49][50]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Scunthorpe United	1988–89	Fourth Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	1	0
	1989–90	Fourth Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	1	0
	1990–91	Fourth Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1991–92	Fourth Division	36	5	2	0	4	1	5[lower-alpha 2]	1	47	7
	1992–93	Third Division	41	5	2	0	4	1	4[lower-alpha 1]	1	51	7
	1993–94	Third Division	41	4	4	0	2	0	4[lower-alpha 1]	0	51	4
	1994–95	Third Division	40	4	4	1	2	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	1	48	6
	Total		159	18	12	1	12	2	17	3	200	24
Luton Town	1995–96	First Division	37	1	1	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	42	1
	1996–97[51]	Second Division	45	2	4	0	6	0	4[lower-alpha 4]	0	59	2
	1997–98[52]	Second Division	39	8	1	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	44	8
	1998–99[53]	Second Division	29	4	2	0	7	2	0	0	38	6
	Total		150	15	8	0	17	2	8	0	183	17
Preston North End	1998–99[53]	Second Division	10	0	—		—		2[lower-alpha 5]	0	12	0
	1999–2000[54]	Second Division	46	6	6	3	5	1	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	58	10
	2000–01[55]	First Division	34	5	0	0	4	2	3[lower-alpha 6]	0	41	7
	2001–02[56]	First Division	45	6	3	1	2	0	—		50	7
	2002–03[57]	First Division	45	10	1	0	4	1	—		50	11
	2003–04[58]	First Division	45	9	3	0	1	0	—		49	9
	2004–05[59]	Championship	42	7	1	0	3	1	1[lower-alpha 7]	0	47	8
	2005–06[60]	Championship	40	3	2	1	1	1	2[lower-alpha 7]	0	45	5
	2006–07[61]	Championship	42	6	3	0	0	0	—		45	6
	2007–08[62]	Championship	3	0	—		—		—		3	0
	Total		352	52	19	5	20	6	9	0	400	63
Burnley	2007–08[62]	Championship	43	1	1	0	1	0	—		45	1
	2008–09[63]	Championship	46	9	5	1	7	0	3[lower-alpha 7]	1	61	11
	2009–10[64]	Premier League	33	7	2	1	0	0	—		35	8
	2010–11[65]	Championship	32	3	2	1	2	0	—		36	4
	Total		154	20	10	3	10	0	3	1	177	24
Preston North End	2011–12[66]	League One	18	2	0	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	21	2
Career total			833	107	49	9	60	10	39	4	981	130

1. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
2. Three appearances and one goal in Football League Trophy, two appearances in Fourth Division play-offs
3. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
4. Two appearances in Football League Trophy, two in Second Division play-offs
5. Appearances in Second Division play-offs
6. Appearances in First Division play-offs
7. Appearance(s) in Championship play-offs

International

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Scotland[35]	2002	8	0
	2003	5	0
	2004	1	0
	2005	8	0
	2006	4	0
	2007	6	0
	2008	5	0
	2009	3	0
Total		40	0

Managerial

As of match played 7 March 2020

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Ref.
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Preston North End (caretaker)	14 December 2011	16 January 2012	5	2	2	1	040.0	[67][68]
Fleetwood Town	6 December 2012	30 September 2015	145	56	35	54	038.6	[68]
Scunthorpe United	22 March 2016	24 March 2018	113	53	30	30	046.9	[42][68]
Salford City	14 May 2018	Present	100	46	26	28	046.0	[68]
Total			363	157	93	113	043.3

See also

• List of Scotland international footballers born outside Scotland

References

1. Hugman, Barry J. (ed) (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
2. "Graham Alexander". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
3. Alexander The Seventh!
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Burnley 2–1 Swansea". BBC Sport. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
6. "Alexander eyes Iron tie". BBC Sport. 25 July 2002. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
7. www.soccerbase.com – The Internet Soccer Database
8. Graham Alexander is finally a Dingle Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
9. "Graham Alexander". Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
10. "Alexander injury blow for Preston". BBC Sport. 28 December 2000. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
11. "400 Up for Grezza". Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
12. "Preston reject bid for Alexander". BBC Sport. 27 July 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
13. Grezza's emotional farewell
14. "Burnley recruit PNE's Alexander". BBC Sport. 31 August 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
16. "Alexander pens new Burnley deal". BBC Sport. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
17. "Burnley 3–1 Sunderland". BBC Sport. 19 September 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
18. Brett, Oliver (31 October 2009). "Burnley 2–0 Hull". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
19. "Man City 3–3 Burnley". BBC Sport. 7 November 2009. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
20. "Burnley Player of the Year awards". Burnley F.C. 6 May 2010. Archived from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
21. http://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/page/LatestHeadlines/0,,10413~2111901,00.html
22. "Burnley captain Graham Alexander to stay at Turf Moor". BBC Sport. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
23. "Alexander Leaves Turf Moor". Burnley F.C. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
24. "Graham Alexander re-joins Preston North End". BBC Sport. 3 August 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
25. "Preston 2–1 Tranmere". BBC Sport. 24 September 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
26. "Preston 1–0 Exeter". BBC Sport. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
27. "Leyton Orient 2–1 Preston". BBC Sport. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
28. "Rochdale 1–1 Preston". BBC Sport. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
29. "Preston 1–1 Chesterfield". BBC Sport. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
30. "Preston 0–0 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
32. "Preston 2–2 Charlton". BBC Sport. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
33. "Preston appoint Graham Alexander as head of youth development". BBC Sport. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
34. "Alexander hoping for Scotland call". BBC Sport. 3 April 2002. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
35. Graham Alexander at the Scottish Football Association
36. Kirin Cup
37. Moffat, Colin (7 October 2006). "Scotland 1–0 France". BBC Sport.
38. "Fleetwood Town appoint Graham Alexander as boss". BBC Sport. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
39. "Graham Alexander: Fleetwood sack boss after poor start". BBC Sport. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
40. http://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk/news/article/alexander-appointed-as-manager-3021380.aspx
41. "Scunthorpe United 2–3 Millwall". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
42. "Scunthorpe United: League One play-off hopefuls sack Graham Alexander". BBC Sport. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
43. "Graham Alexander: Salford City appoint ex-Scunthorpe manager". BBC Sport. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
44. "The Vanarama National League Table". National League website. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
45. Rindl, Josef (11 May 2019). "AFC Fylde 0–3 Salford City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
46. "EFL statement: Coronavirus update". English Football League. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
47. Roan, Dan (15 May 2020). "League Two clubs vote to end season, but League One teams fail to decide". BBC Sport.
48. Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack. "English League Players Directory". SKY Sports Football Yearbook 2008–2009 (39th ed.). Headline Publishing Group. p. 446. ISBN 978-0-7553-1820-9.
49. "Graham Alexander profile". Burnley F.C. 7 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
50. Graham Alexander at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
51. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 1996/1997". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
52. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
53. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
54. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
55. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
56. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
57. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
58. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
59. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
60. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
61. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
62. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
63. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
64. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
65. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
66. "Games played by Graham Alexander in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
67. "Manager Phil Brown is sacked by Preston North End". BBC Sport. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
68. "Managers: Graham Alexander". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 August 2019.

External links

• UEFA stats for Euro 2008 qualifiers
• Graham Alexander at Soccerbase