Graham Alexander

Graham Alexander

Personal information
Full name	Graham 'Grezza' Alexander
Date of birth	10 October 1971 (1971-10-10)
Place of birth	Coventry, England
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Right back / Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Preston North End
Number	22
Youth career
1988–1991	Scunthorpe United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1991–1995	Scunthorpe United	159	(18)
1995–1999	Luton Town	152	(15)
1999–2007	Preston North End	360	(55)
2007–2011	Burnley	155	(20)
2011–	Preston North End	17	(1)
National team‡
2002–2009	Scotland	40	(0)
Teams managed
2011–	Preston North End
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 December 2009

Graham Alexander (born 10 October 1971 in Coventry, England) is a Scottish international footballer who plays for and joint manages Preston North End.

For most of his career he has played as a specialist at right back, but has recently been deployed in defensive midfield, as he did early on in his career with Scunthorpe. He is currently the third oldest player to score in Premier League history. He is also a penalty kick specialist and takes them for his current club. 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. He is currently fifth on the List of footballers in England and Scotland by number of league appearances.

Club 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. 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. He became a first team regular at Deepdale, eventually club captain and an established set-piece taker, particularly in penalties. Alexander has stayed remarkably fit during his career, and has hardly ever suffered a major injury. However, during the 2000–01 season, Alexander missed several weeks of the season after breaking his rib in an away match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. During his eight years at Preston, Alexander made exactly 400 appearances for the club, with his 400th and final match coming against Colchester on 25 August 2007. He was also in the PFA's Championship Team of the Season for 2004–05

During the summer of 2007 a number of clubs were linked with Alexander 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."

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, so when offered a two year contract by Burnley the player accepted and made a £200,000 move to Turf Moor. 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."

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.

In Burnley's promotion season in 2008/09 Alexander at the age of 37 played in all of Burnleys 61 League and Cup games that season 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, and on 15 August he became the oldest player to make a Premier League debut. On 19 September, Alexander scored his first Premier League goal, a penalty, in a 3–1 win at home to Sunderland. On 31 October 2009, Alexander scored both goals in a 2–0 home win against Hull City. A week later he then scored the first for Burnley, from the spot, at Manchester City in a thrilling 3–3 draw. 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 nine, eight 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.He is among the oldest players ever to score in the Premier League.

On 5 August 2010 Burnley's First Team Manager, Brian Laws, officially named the 38-year-old as club captain for the 2010–2011 Npower Championship Season. 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"

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. Only Tony Ford has matched this feat as an outfield player. 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. On 4 July 2011, Alexander was released by Burnley.

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. He was given the number 22 and made his debut against Colchester United. Alexander scored his first goal for Preston in 4 years with a trademark penalty in a 2-1 home win against Tranmere on the 24th September 2011. This was after his first penalty back in a Preston shirt was saved against Exeter, and before his third was saved against Leyton Orient.

Player-manager

On December 14th the club announced that after Phil Brown's sacking Alexander is taking charge of the club alongside David Unsworth.Their first game in charge was a 0-1 win against MK Dons who were on a 7 match win streak. .

International career

Although Alexander was born in England, he was eligible to play for Scotland through his Scottish father. 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." 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. 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. He gained his 25th Scotland cap in a famous 1–0 victory against France. He has gained a total of 40 caps for Scotland, picking up only one yellow card for his national team against New Zealand in May 2003.

Career statistics

Club

As of 16:23, 13 December 2011.

Season	Club	Division	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Football League Trophy		Play-Offs		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1990–91	Scunthorpe United	Fourth Division	1	0	-		-						1	0
1991–92			36	5	2	0	4	1					42	6
1992–93		Third Division (new)	41	5	2	0	4	0					47	5
1993–94			41	4	4	0	2	1					47	5
1994–95			40	4	4	1	2	0					46	5
1995–96	Luton Town	First Division	37	1	1	0	2	0					40	1
1996–97		Second Division	45	2	2	0	6	0	0	0	1	0	54	2
1997–98			39	8	1	0	1	0	2	0	—		43	8
1998–99			29	4	2	0	7	2	0	0	—		38	6
1998–99	Preston North End		10	0	-		-		0	0	2	0	12	0
1999–00			46	6	6	3	5	1	1	0	—		58	10
2000–01		First Division	34	5	-		4	2	—		3	0	41	7
2001–02			45	6	3	1	2	0	—		—		50	7
2002–03			45	10	1	0	4	1	—		—		50	11
2003–04			45	9	3	0	1	0	—		—		49	9
2004–05		Championship	42	7	1	0	3	1	—		1	0	47	8
2005–06			40	3	2	1	1	1	—		2	0	45	5
2006–07			42	6	3	0	-		—		—		45	6
2007–08			3	0	-		-		—		—		3	0
2007–08	Burnley		43	1	1	0	1	0	—		—		45	1
2008–09			46	9	5	1	7	0	—		3	1	61	11
2009–10		Premier League	33	7	2	1	0	0	—		—		35	8
2010–11		Championship	32	3	2	1	2	0	—		—		36	4
2011–12	Preston North End	League One	17	1	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	20	1
Career total			832	108	47	9	59	10	5	0	12	1	955	128

International

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Scotland	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

As of 17 November 2010

External links

• Profile on Burnley's Official site
• Profile on Preston's Official site
• UEFA stats for Euro 2008 qualifiers
• Graham Alexander career stats at Soccerbase