Goodbye to a good guy

Friday, 05/03/2010

Football was shocked by the sad news of Keith Alexander’s death this week. The Macclesfield Town manager passed away, aged 53, after collapsing at home on Tuesday night, following his side’s 1-0 defeat to Notts County.

Tributes to Keith have been flying in this week and rightly so. Stories of his passion for the game have been accompanied by tales of his generosity and approachability off the field.

Big Keith was the first person that I interviewed in professional football way back in 2003, as a fresh-faced student at the University of Lincoln. He was manager of Lincoln City at the time and working miracles on a shoestring budget.

The football may not have been the prettiest, but it rarely is in the fourth tier of English football, and Alexander was well on the way to turning the Imps’ fortunes from relegation candidates to play-off challengers.

My friend Matt and I arranged to interview Keith at Sincil Bank for a radio workshop broadcast, which made up part of our Journalism degree. We were both a little apprehensive walking into the manager’s office with recording equipment and notepads in hand. After all, he was the manager of a professional club and a pretty big bloke!

We needn’t have worried. Keith put us at ease straight away with a big smile and a warm handshake and answered all of our questions, no matter how daft some of them probably sounded, including one about giving some of the University team a trial!

He was clearly a very busy man as the phone rang and youth team players came into speak to him as we waited to conduct the interview, but he gave the impression that providing 20 minutes of his time to two aspiring reporters-scruffy students was no trouble at all.

Many other journalists have recounted similar stories in recent days, reinforcing the great first impression that Keith left on me.

One thing is for sure, English football has lost one of the good guys this week. Amidst all the speculation and media hype about the Premier League’s top players, men like Keith Alexander should be treasured for the hours of work they do at the other end of the professional football pyramid.

So here’s to Big Keith, a fantastic manager and one of the nicest blokes I’ve met in football.

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