In May 2018, two months after his departure from Scunthorpe United, 48-year-old Graham Alexander was appointed manager of National League club Salford City, signing a four-year contract with the club.
Football fans will be familiar with the story of the Salford based club, part-owned by the Class Of ’92 comprising of – Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Paul Scholes.
The club has enjoyed a remarkable rise through non-league since 2014, winning four promotions to reach league two this season. This has been their first ever campaign in the Football League.
Alexander joined the club at a crucial time, when they had just won promotion to the National League, and has admitted to being initially sceptical about taking a post outside of the EFL.
Alexander told Sky News: “It was a difficult one…..The non-league status of the club was my only concern and a hurdle I had to overcome in my own mind to start this role, but apart from that there were so many positives about this job.”
But it hasn’t always been so easy for Alexander: “We had a lot of tough challenges this season…..there are a lot of good players and managers at this level, added with the pressure of only one automatic promotion spot. That makes it very different to the English Football League and it builds in everyone’s mind and adds to the tension towards the end of the season.”
If the spotlight of Salford City being a NLC wasn’t enough, then the regular presence of TV cameras last season wouldn’t have helped either. The entire campaign was documented for the Sky TV series ‘Class of 92: Full Time’, which aired earlier this year.
As the year draws to a close Alexander hopes the team will “continually improve” as they enter 2020, and hopes for further league victories in the future.
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