PNE Fans Phone-In: North End fans give their thoughts on the appointment of club legend Graham Alexander as manager

[paper rustling] So, uh, I'll give my view on the Alexander, uh, manager signing or I'm not really sure what my view is really.

Uh, 'cause I thought about this for a while, but, you know, it's, it's very difficult when it's an, an ex-player and, and an ex-player who, you know, you really rated and really enjoyed watching and, and really liked.

So it's difficult to kind of take that, that out of it.

I think like a lot of people, if he hadn't played for us and had been a, a manager who'd managed, you know, hundreds of games down in the, in the lower leagues, then I'd be, you know, di- disappointed.

Uh, the fact it is Alexander kind of adds that little bit of extra, uh, interest really.

And I really hope he'll, he'll be successful.

Uh, when we announced Heckingbottom, uh, last time, I was very, very much against that appointment, and not against him, but I just, you know, knew a little bit about his, his style of play and his style of football and, you know, as someone who kind of accepts that, you know, maybe we're, [laughs] we're gonna struggle to be successful, at least wanna, wanna watch decent football.

And for me, the big kind of cross against Paul Heckingbottom was the way that he set his teams up and the way that he approached games and I knew or I felt, uh, that we wouldn't have very much, uh, to, to kind of cheer from an entertainment perspective.

Um, I fear that could be the same here and, you know, n- not the fact that he's managed at the lower league because I don't really kind of buy into the fact that what you've done in the past kind of dictates what you'll do in, in the future, you know? And he's, he's, he's managed, you know, hundreds of, of games.

He obviously knows how to set a team up.

He knows how to manage players.

You don't manage that many games if you don't need to do that and I don't feel that it's, it's a different game in the, in the Championship to League One.

I don't feel like it's a different game in the Championship to, uh, the Premier League and, you know, we've seen time and time again managers have come from, from nowhere in, you know, abroad or whatever and have, have come to teams in, in England and, and done really well.

So I think it takes a lot to be successful as a manager at a football club and obviously it depends on the players and the infrastructure and, you know, a, a little bit of luck and, you know, the, the coaches and, and everything to, to do with it really.

So it's not down to one individual, so I wouldn't kind of hold that against him.

The big question mark is, again, like the style of play.

You know, we've had seasons now where the football has been, you know, pretty awful to watch and you can count on one hand, you know, those games that you've come away from absolutely buzzing 'cause you've seen a brilliant game of football.

You know, take the result out of it, but like a brilliant game of football.

I mean, you know, the most we had to cheer was when we beat Derby away 'cause we hadn't won away for 18 months or whatever it was and that's not really kind of what you [laughs] want your, your benchmark to be.

But look, you know, it is what it is.

I hope he's gonna be successful.

You know, and he, he...

I, I don't know if he is kind of wedded to a, a three at the back or a five at the back, however he wants to play it.

But from what I kind of hear from the Bradford fans, he, he likes his teams to press high up the pitch.

He likes to get the ball forward quickly which, you know, one of the things that has been disappointing recently is the way we just pass it around the back and pass it around the back.