Bolton Wanderers v Bradford City: Graham Alexander on channelling hurt of play-off past - to galvanising effect
AHEAD of his 11th play-off campaign in football, Bradford City manager Graham Alexander knows one thing.
Namely that the lessons of past failures are more instructive regarding the next mission – while they also provide extra motivation.
Alexander, whose Bantams side visit Bolton Wanderers in their League One semi-final first leg on Saturday evening (8pm), has a mixed record in the play-off lottery, it’s fair to say.
In seven attempts as a player - starting in 1991-92 with Scunthorpe United - he saved the best until last with Burnley, who won at Wembley (2008-09) to reach the Premier League. It was Alexander’s fourth final.
In his managerial career, he has fared pretty well so far, orchestrating promotions via the play-offs with Fleetwood (2013-14) and Salford (2018-19), alongside a semi-final appearance with Scunthorpe.
A number of his senior players are also veterans when it comes to the play-offs and will use their experiences - good and bad - in these next two instalments with a final hopefully to come on May 24.
Alexander said: "From my experience, you remember them all and take lessons from them all.
"You take a little bit of pain forward from the ones you’re not successful from.
"You don’t drag it around like a corpse, but I think it’s good to have that feeling at the back of your mind.
"I don’t want to experience that again, so I need to be more disciplined than usual and extra-vigilant about what I’ve got to do..
"You can take things from most experiences and difficult times can be a driver. It makes you work even harder because you don’t want to feel like that again.
"Then, success can bring that hunger again because you loved that feeling.
"We’ve got many players in the changing room and staff members that have had a lot of experience in these situations as well.
"But I’m sure the other teams have faced the same as well. We’ll see how that pans out."
Having started the season in outstanding fashion to make League One rivals sit up and take notice very quickly, it would be somewhat fitting if City ended another fine campaign on the front foot.
Alexander ‘gets’ that argument, but feels that his side’s ability to successfully handle adversity - another theme of 2025-26 - can be just as important over the next few games.
He continued: "Everyone will be convincing themselves why their story is better than the next team’s and why they deserve it more. Four teams have got their own story.
"From our perspective, to continue where we left off last season and for it not to be a 10-game start with momentum - but to do it over 46 games and finish fourth and level with third - is great testament to the work everybody has put in.
"We see it as the norm that we come in, work hard, stay humble and compete at the highest level we can day in, day out.
"It’s through the dark months in December, January and the periods when you don’t win a game and get a heavy defeat. That’s where your consistency is really built.
"I think we’ve built up a bank of consistency and we’ve got to extend it. It’s going to be tested in both these games, there will be peaks and troughs within the 90 minutes and we have to make sure we mentally stay on board with what we’ve got to do.”