Keith Alexander (footballer)

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Personal information
Keith Alexander
Full name	Keith Alexander
Date of birth	November 14, 1956 (age 50)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	6' 4" (1.93m)
Playing position	Manager (former Centre Forward)
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1974 . . . . . . 1979-80 1980 . 1981-82 Summer 1982 . 1983-84 1984-86 1986-88 1988-90 1990 1990-92 1994 1995 1995	Notts County Wisbech Town Worksop Town Clifton Ilkeston Town Kimberley Town Alfreton Town Stamford Boston United King's Lynn Stamford Spalding United King's Lynn Grantham Town Kettering Town Barnet Grimsby Town Stockport County Lincoln City Mansfield Town Cliftonville Mansfield Town Ilkeston Town	00 (0) . . . . . . 51(13) . . 42(11) . . . . . 83 (26) 11 (0) 45 (4) 02 (0) 07 (2) 01 (0)
National team
1990	St. Lucia	03 (0)
Teams managed
1993-94 1995-2000 2000-01 2000-01 2001-02 2002-2006 2006-2007	Lincoln City Ilkeston Town Ilkeston Town (Gen. Manager) Northwich Victoria Lincoln City (Dir. Of Coaching) Lincoln City Peterborough United
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

For other people of this name, see Keith Alexander

Keith Alexander (born 14 November 1956 in Nottingham, England) is a football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of League Two side Peterborough United.

1 Playing Career
- 1.1 Honours
2 Management
3 Managerial stats
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Playing Career

Keith Alexander for many years plied his trade as a lower division footballer, most notably for Grimsby Town and Stockport County, before temporary ending his playing career with Lincoln City after season 1992/93. After a short spell as Lincoln City manager, he played a handful more games for Mansfield Town and Cliftonville.

[edit] Honours

He won the FA Vase in 1980 with Stamford, scoring one of the goals in a 2-0 win at Wembley.

He also played international football for St. Lucia in 1990.

[edit] Management

[edit] First Spell with Lincoln City

He then began a short spell as manager of the Imps, before being replaced by the then chairman John Reames after less than a year in charge.

[edit] Lower League Management

For the best part of a decade, Alexander then managed two semi-professional teams, Ilkeston Town during 1995-2000 and Northwich Victoria during 2000-01.

[edit] Return to Lincoln City

With the appointment of his former manager at Grimsby, Alan Buckley, to the position of manager at Sincil Bank, Alexander returned to the club and filled the twin roles of Director of Football and assistant manager. The partnership ended in disappointment, however, as the Imps ended 2001/02 precariously close to relegation to the Conference and in dire financial straits.

[edit] Lincoln City Manager Again

As one of many cost cutting measures that were made to avoid liquidation, manager Alan Buckley was relieved of his duties and replaced a week later by Keith Alexander, who accepted the role with considerably more experience than when first taking the post in 1993/94.

Alexander immediately set about reshaping a squad which had been decimated by the loss of high profile players such as Ian Hamilton, Kingsley Black and Justin Walker, who settled the remainder of their expensive contracts under the watchful eye of the club's administrators. Veterans David Cameron, Steve Holmes and record appearance maker Grant 'Hoof' Brown also move to pastures new. He replaced these experienced individuals with relative unknowns recruited from the non league game.

[edit] 2002-03 Playoffs

With Lincoln City's Supporters Trust taking control of the club and a new financial realism embracing Sincil Bank, fans were content just to see their team begin season 2002/03. Yet Keith Alexander oversaw a remarkable upturn in fortunes which saw the Imps play particularly impressively on their travels and end the season in the playoff places and with a chance of promotion to the then Second Division. Alexander had managed to retain important performers such as former Tottenham Hotspur youngsters Alan Marriott and Peter Gain, Northern Ireland B international centre back Paul Morgan (formerly of Preston North End), Ben Sedgemore and wing backs Mark Bailey and Stuart Bimson. He complemented their talents with the addition of centre backs Ben Futcher and Simon Weaver, busy midfielder Richard Butcher and strikers Simon Yeo and Dene Cropper. Alexander's knowledge of the semi-professional game appeared unsurpassed at the time and by using direct tactics that fully utilised the potential of free kicks and long throws, he ensured that he got the most out of a set of previously unheralded players. The season ended in disappointment, however, when the Imps were defeated by A.F.C. Bournemouth in the Playoff Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. The 5-2 result established a new record for goals scored in a playoff final. For all but the most fickle of Lincoln supporters, the fact that their team got to Cardiff at all was an unlikely feat for which Alexander received an avalache of praise.

[edit] 2003-04 Illness and Playoffs Again

The following season 2003/04 began somewhat disappointingly for Alexander's team, but their importance were placed firmly in perspective when he suffered a cerebral aneurysm in November 2003. It was later reported that Alexander had been accompanied by his assistant Gary Simpson on a scouting mission that evening but felt ill on returning home and retired to bed. It was fortunate that he was in the presence of his wife who called an ambulance and mercifully Alexander was rushed to hospital in time for potentially life saving surgery to be attempted at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital (Sheffield, Yorkshire.) His condition slowly improved and remarkably Alexander returned to work in February 2004. Gary Simpson had acted as interim manager and once again Lincoln found themselves in the playoff positions as the season drew to a conclusion. Veteran Stewart Bimson had moved on to Cambridge United and youngster Paul Mayo was soon sold to Watford for an initial £75000, but the acquisitions of Jamie McCombe, Marcus Richardson, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Francis Green and loanee Kevin Ellison meant that the Imps continued their excellent form. This time around, the fell at the penultimate hurdle of the playoffs but were beaten by Huddersfield Town, who went on to achieve promotion to the new Football League One division.

[edit] 2004-05 Yet more Playoff agony

This prolonged period of success under Alexander's leadership meant that the 2004/05 season dawned with Lincoln City supporters having a raised level of expectation for their team. The signing of giant central defender Gareth McAuley, from Coleraine, suggested to fans that this might be Lincoln's season. He proved an astute purchase, with Sunderland rumoured to be interested in his services even before he made his international debut in a June 2005 fixture against Germany. But the campaign was disrupted by a training ground fracas between Marcus Richardson and Ciaran Toner, signed in the close season from Leyton Orient. Both players were allowed to leave on loan and told they would not play for the Imps again. Regardless, rumours persisted that the morale of the squad was low both because of this incident and relating to the payment of bonuses. Although the fact that Lincoln once again finished in the playoff positions was testament to the ability of Alexander, many supporters believed that only victory against Southend at the Millennium Stadium would make it a successful season.

The game was a tight affair for ninety minutes and neither side could manage a goal in normal time. Yet, it was Keith Alexander's side who suffered most on the first genuinely warm day of the summer and their bustling style of play meant all three strikers had to be replaced in the second half. A shortage of available attacking options saw the goal shy Derek Asamoah brought onto the field alongside versatile defenders Matt Bloomer and Lee Beevers. Once Freddy Eastwood broke the deadlock for Southend the result was a formality even before Duncan Jupp added a second on the breakaway.

At the beginning of May 2005, Keith Alexander signed a new three year contract with Lincoln City until May 2008. He may have hoped this would encourage many out of contract players to join him and agree new deals but after three times just failing to gain promotion it was obvious some squad members felt that they needed a new challenge. Fans favorite Simon Yeo emigrated to New Zealand after agreeing a three year contract with the New Zealand Knights. He soon tarnished his reputation with a scandalous attack on the club's board despite them having rescued Lincoln City from the brink of extinction. Richard Butcher joined League One side Oldham Athletic. Gary Taylor-Fletcher was surprisingly released amid speculation about his conduct. He joined League One Huddersfield Town a month later. Peter Gain initially agreed to a three year extension at Sincil Bank but Peterborough United offered him more money and he headed to London Road. Captain Paul Morgan delighted fans by signing a new three deal which reportedly made him the highest paid player at the club. Unperturbed, Keith Alexander defiantly declared a new era at Sincil Bank and signed promising young strikers Danny Bacon and Gary Birch on one year contracts.

[edit] 2005-06 Fourth straight Playoff defeat

Lincoln City lost yet again in the playoffs, this time to local rivals Grimsby Town. Alexander now has the unenviable record of being the only manager to lead a team to four consecutive playoff defeats (two finals, two semi-finals). Shortly after the final defeat Alexander left Lincoln by mutual consent.

[edit] Peterborough United

On 30 May 2006, Alexander was announced as the new manager of Peterborough United replacing Steve Bleasdale who left at the end of April. He cited his reason for joining Peterborough as need for a new challenge.^[1] Alexander signed a 4 year contract with the club. On 15 January his contract was mutually terminated following 6 straight league defeats.^[2]

[edit] Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	G	W	L	D	Win %
Lincoln City		August 1, 1993	May 16, 1994	48	13	22	13	27.08
Lincoln City		May 5, 2002	May 24, 2006	213	81	63	69	38.02
Peterborough United		May 5, 2002	May 24, 2006	34	14	13	7	41.17

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Keith Alexander career stats at Soccerbase
Keith Alexander management career stats at Soccerbase
Keith Alexander at Grantham Town Official Website

Preceded by Steve Thompson	Lincoln City manager 1993-1994	Succeeded by Sam Ellis
Preceded by Mark Gardiner	Northwich Victoria manager 2000-2001	Succeeded by Jimmy Quinn
Preceded by Alan Buckley	Lincoln City manager 2002-2006	Succeeded by John Schofield
Preceded by Steve Bleasdale	Peterborough United manager 2006-2007	Succeeded by Darren Ferguson

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