Graham Alexander

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Graham Alexander
Personal information
Full name	Graham Alexander
Date of birth	10 October 1971 (1971-10-10) (age 36)
Place of birth	Coventry, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Burnley
Number	2
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990–1995 1995–1999 1999–2007 2007–	Scunthorpe United Luton Town Preston North End Burnley	159 (18) 152 (15) 354 (52) 043 0(1)
National team2
2002–	Scotland	033 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:25, 27 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22:08, 26 March 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Graham Alexander (born 10 October 1971 in Coventry, West Midlands) is an international Scottish footballer, playing for Burnley F.C in the English Football League Championship as a defender but can play as a midfielder^[1] as he did early on in his career with Scunthorpe United.^[2]

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Club career

Alexander began his career in the late 1980s as a youth player with Scunthorpe United and in 1991 he signed his first professional contract, quickly becoming a member of the first team. Alexander made over 200 appearances at Scunthorpe before moving to Luton Town for a transfer fee of £100,000.^[3][4] He went on to make a similar number of appearances with Luton in his four years with the club.

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.^[5] He became a first team regular at Deepdale, eventually club captain and an established set-piece taker, particularly in penalties.^[6] In the 2000/2001 season Alexander missed several weeks of the season after breaking his rib in an away match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.^[7] During his eight years at Preston, Alexander became the club's then-longest serving player, making 400 appearances with his 400th coming against Colchester on August 25, 2007^[8]. 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 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."^[10]

On August 29, 2007, he made a surprise move to local rivals Burnley almost 9 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^[11][12] so when offered a two year contract by Burnley the player accepted and made a £200,000 move to Turf Moor.^[13] 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]

Following Alexander's departure, Preston manager Paul Simpson also made similar comment regarding the player's departure but insisted he did not want to offer a 2-year contract to a 35 year old.^[16] 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.^[17]

[edit] International career

Although Alexander was born in England, he was eligible to play for Scotland through his Scottish father^[18]. Alexander said that playing for Scotland was one of his main ambitions in football^[19]. This ambition was fulfilled when he made his debut on April 17, 2002 in the 2-1 friendly loss to Nigeria at the Pittodrie Stadium^[20].

Alexander gained his 25th Scotland cap in a famous 1-0 victory against France. He was also part of the squad who won the annual Japanese Kirin Cup tournament in 2006, beating Bulgaria 5-1 before drawing 0-0 with hosts Japan^[21].

[edit] Notes

[edit] 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

v • d • e Burnley F.C. – current squad 1 Király • 2 Alexander • 4 Duff • 5 Carlisle • 6 Caldwell • 8 Guðjónsson • 9 Akinbiyi • 11 Elliott • 12 Jensen • 14 Jones • 16 McCann • 17 Lafferty • 18 Mahon • 19 Rodriguez • 20 Blake • 22 Berisha • 23 Jordan • 25 Kay • 26 Unsworth • 28 MacDonald • Manager: Coyle