Alexander is targeting raids on Scottish talent
Graham Alexander enjoyed a post-wembley promotion knees-up courtesy of David Beckham.
Now the former Scotland international defender would dearly love ambitious Scots stars to join the party with him at English League new boys Salford City.
Alexander led City – partowned by Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary and Phil Neville – to promotion from the Vanarama National league via the play-offs final in May. Now comes the drive to establish the Moor Lane side as an English League Two outfit.
Alexander is fiercely proud of his Scottish roots.
Last summer, he cheekily pinned a Saltire to the Salford dressing-room wall as a wind-up after England’s failure to reach the World Cup Final!
The 47-year-old would dearly love more Scots to join him and Aberdeen-born analyst Ross Duncan at Moor Lane.
City may be bankrolled by billionaire owner Peter Lim and now have Beckham his other Manchester United ‘class of 92’ mates as as 10% stakeholders.
But Alexander hasn’t forgotten his Caledonian roots and revealed he is always looking north of the border for bargains and players who share the desire he showed from starting out as an apprentice at Scunthorpe aged 16 to winning 40 caps for Scotland and playing in the Premier League for Burnley aged 38.
Alexander said: “Scotland is definitely a market we are looking at and we have had a scout watching Scottish games all season.
“We can’t target all areas of Britain, but Scotland is one I want covered. “We want players here who are chasing success, who have their best years ahead of them. As a club, we think our best years are ahead of us. “Obviously, we signed Adam Rooney from Aberdeen last year and we didn’t need a scout to tell us how good he was – but we are very thorough in our approach and that’s why it’s important to look at the Scottish scene.
“I’m proud to be Scottish
– and that’s why I pinned the Saltire up last summer. OK, it came the day after England lost to Croatia, but that might have been coincidence! These things have to be done!”
The Salford boys took the gag in good spirit – and that camaraderie kept the team together through the course of a gruelling season.
A poor start against Sutton and Gateshead put Alexander and his team under immediate pressure, but they responded with a 20-game unbeaten run. Rooney chipped in with 21 goals over the course of the campaign and was a vital player.
A stuttering winter may have ultimately cost Salford an automatic promotion place, but they still had the nerve to win the play-offs beating Eastleigh and Fylde when the heat was on. He added: “Wembley was brilliant. I told the players to milk the moment and stay on the pitch as long as they could. “After the game we went into London for a few drinks put on by David Beckham and got back to Manchester about 2am. “We kept going for a few hours and i was one of the last men standing talking total nonsense!
“I know people think Salford have spent big to get in this position, but it doesn’t guarantee anything and sometimes the figures are exaggerated. “People in the game know how hard we have worked to get to this position and the messages that have come in since we were promoted reflect that and mean the world to me.”