Bradford City boss Graham Alexander on Bolton Wanderers rival Steven Schumacher and being 'out of order'
SUCH is Graham Alexander's seasoned age that he occasionally now finds himself pitting his wits against dug-out rivals who he formerly managed - and not just former team-mates.
Saturday is a case in point with the Bradford City manager renewing acquaintances with someone who he signed during his successful managerial stint at first club Fleetwood in the shape of Bolton Wanderers chief Steven Schumacher.
The former midfielder, who also counts City among his former clubs in his playing days, left Bury to join forces with Alexander at the Highbury Stadium in the summer of 2013. Less than 12 months later, they were celebrating promotion from League Two.
Leaving League One in an upward direction is the present-day mission for the duo, with Alexander, 54, for one, not surprised that Schumacher is making a success of his second career in football.
After promotion from the third tier with Plymouth Argyle in 2022-23, the Liverpudlian is eyeing a repeat trick at Bolton, who are chasing a ninth successive home win this weekend, against the Bantams.
A big 25,000-plus crowd - including a sell-out 5,000 allocation of away followers - will be present at the Toughsheet Community Stadium with the figure heading towards the attendance of 25,967 - Wanderers’ biggest since their Premier League days – for last season’s visit of Wrexham.
Alexander said: "I joined Fleetwood in the December and Schuey was one of our first signings the following summer. He was a major signing for us.
"The target was to win promotion and, similar to here, we looked around for players who had done that and captains. Schuey had won promotion and been a captain.
"He played a really significant part in us getting promoted in that first year and then establishing ourselves as a League One club.
"He’s a great lad to work with and I’ve seen him a few times as an assistant. I remember when he won promotion and I met him at the LMA dinner – it was great to see him and congratulate him on his success as a manager.
"You could see he was an authority in the changing room with the players and on the training pitch. He always had an opinion and was a really good footballer as well.
"When he went into the coaching side and became a manager, myself and Chris (Lucketti) could have seen that 10 years ago."
Alexander has seen enough in a number of senior players who he is currently leading at City to fully expect that several will step up into coaching and management one day.
Like Schumacher, another midfielder from the banks of the Mersey in Bantams captain Max Power, is likely to be chief among them. But for the time being, it's about one thing.
"Sometimes there are guys that surprise you. I’ve had teammates who’ve gone on to manage and I didn’t see it at the time," Alexander continued.
"It takes all sorts of crazy guys to be a manager. You try to second-guess, but sometimes players you think are suited to it don’t want to do it.
"One thing about this job is that you’ve got to want to do it. There are some tough times and if you don’t love it, you’ll get found out.
"But I want them to be maximising their playing careers first. That’s the biggest thing because you get one go at that.
"You don’t get a chance to get back. For all the players that are here, just focus on playing."
City head into the game on the back of a five-game winless sequence in League One and a run of three successive defeats in all competitions.
Alexander blew a gasket in the aftermath of the recent 3-1 EFL Trophy loss at Doncaster Rovers, with the City chief being scathing at his side's second-half showing in the immediate aftermath at the Eco-Power Stadium.
A free weekend last week and a pause for reflection has seen the experienced City manager re-evaluate matters, mindful of his side's excellent league position, in the round. In their opening 15 league matches, the Bantams have lost just twice - and in terms of defeats, it remains the best record in the division.
He continued: "I am not on any socials, but my wife showed me something on Twitter (X) about newly-promoted teams in this division in the last 25 years and only two others have lost two (in their first 15).
"The last word was perspective and my wife showed it to me when I was still ‘in a mood’.
"I know I was angry (after Doncaster) and it was out of order from me. I don't think my emotion was justified to be honest and I acknowledged that with my players on Monday.”
Aden Baldwin and Antoni Sarcevic will be assessed ahead of the trip across the Pennines ahead of potential involvement at Bolton, with Curtis Tilt and Nick Powell being the only two confirmed absentees.