Graham Alexander

Graham Alexander ( born October 10, 1971 in Coventry ) is a former Scottish footballer and current coach. He played preferred as full-back, but was also a defensive midfielder for use. Alexander was also more accurate than penalty taker.

Playing career

Association

Graham Alexander learned to play football in the youth of Scunthorpe United as a full-back. In 1991, he signed his first professional contract with the Irons, as the club is called in England, and completed his first season in 36 games at Scunthorpe in the Fourth Division. In the following three seasons he established himself as a regular for the Irons and transferred in the summer of 1995 for £ 100,000 to Luton Town in the Football League First Division, the English top flight. Also in Luton, he played almost all league games, but increased in the 1995/96 season with the club into the Second Division. While Alexander in the following season with Luton just barely missed the promotion back to the First Division, he placed the team in the next two years on a rank in mid-table. In March 1999, the full-back has signed a contract with Preston North End.

In Preston Alexander showed especially his offensive qualities, in the 2002/03 season he scored ten goals in 45 games for North End. He managed the team in four years in a row in the league in the English top flight, but had to go to the 2003/ 04 season, the descent into the newly formed Football League Championship accept. Alexander remained the club received another three years, in August 2007, he transferred to FC Burnley. He played a rather weak first season at Burnley, finishing with the Clarets 13th place in the Championship. In the season 2008/ 09, both Alexander and the Clarets managed a strong increase in performance. It succeeded the semi-finals of the FA Cup and a placement in fifth place in the Championship, which justified the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League. In these playoff games of Reading FC and Sheffield United were defeated and the rise ensured in the Premier League. Alexander also scored in the first semi-final against Reading the winning goal for Burnley. With his goal against Arsenal on 16 December 2009, he became the fifth- oldest scorer in Premier League history. This was also his 100th league goal as a professional player.

On April 28, 2012, he played his last competitive game for Preston North End, scoring in injury time free-kick equalizer in the League match against Charlton Athletic.

National

Graham Alexander made ​​his debut on 17 April 2002 for the Scottish national football team in the match against Nigeria, which was lost 1:2. Since then, he was a regular for the Scots used. Unlike in the club it is limited to the national team on defensive duties, which is why he has so far achieved no results. One of the biggest surprises of the last few years he succeeded on 7 October 2006, when the French in Glasgow's Hampden Park 1-0 were defeated. The Scots failed to qualify for the 2008 European Football Championship, despite this victory.

Coaching career

During the season 2011/12 Alexander collected after the dismissal of Phil Brown at Preston North End first experience as a head coach. The position which he held on an interim basis from together with David Unsworth and the team lost during this time only one of five games. In June 2012, he eventually took over the management of youth work in the club.

In early December 2012, he became the successor to Micky Mellon at fourth division club Fleetwood Town. Mellon had previously dismissed after an FA Cup defeat and was therefore given the space for Alexanders first full-time commitment as head coach of a professional team.