GRAHAM Alexander will be a keen observer from afar, following the progress of Jon McCracken and Ibou Touray during the international break.

First-choice keeper McCracken has been called up by Scotland. His previous promotion to the international fold was in 2024.

Scotland have four Nations League fixtures coming up, with a trip to Slovenia on September 26 first on the agenda.

They will then host Switzerland at Hampden Park on September 29 before visiting North Macedonia on October 3. The run of fixtures will be rounded off on home turf against Slovenia on October 6.

Bradford City manager Graham Alexander. (Picture: Tony Johnson)

placeholder image — Bradford City manager Graham Alexander. (Picture: Tony Johnson)

Meanwhile, Touray has been called up by Gambia for the first time in a couple of years.

The defender will be involved in their upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifying matches at home to Somalia on Friday, September 25 and then away to Ghana the following Tuesday.

Alexander, whose side’s scheduled game next weekend against Barnsley has been called off, said: “I think it's important to show an interest in it. It's not something that you would do that just to judge his performance.

"I think it's actually quite refreshing sometimes watching a player play knowing that there's no pressure on you as a manager to get a result out of any one particular game.

Jon McCracken has made a strong start to life at Bradford City.

"But you want your players to always feel good about themselves and do good things and get recognised for player of the month awards, like Penno (Matt Pennington), player of the year awards in the past few years for different players nationally and stuff like that.

"And international recognition, honestly, the feeling for the individual is amazing.

"As their manager, there's a sense of pride in that individual getting to that level. You want them to continue that. I think I'm so pleased for both of those guys.

"But I know both those guys will be absolutely super focused on our game on Saturday (against Luton). They won't be looking too far ahead.

"We're sort of asking questions about some of the other lads in our squad. Who do they potentially represent? Because I think we've got a lot of good players in our squad.

"I've not looked into the background of all the individuals and obviously their lineage, their family tree and stuff like that.

"But I know from my own experience of getting that sort of recognition. I was 30 when I first got my first cap and it meant absolutely everything to me.

"I know there's always that club versus country thing, but it's never even entered my head.

"I've had previous players that had international commitments and I've been so pleased for them. It's never impacted the club in a negative fashion at all.

"It would be interesting to go through everyone and who we can push because I think it's important for us to speak highly of these individuals as well.

"The biggest thing you've got to realise is the better the team does, the better the individual does. I think we've got a squad of players that always commits to the team first and that then shines light on individuals.”