Actions speak louder than words for Bantams boss Alexander

The Bantams boss is keeping feet firmly on the ground despite an encouraging week that has given fans hope after the poor start.

After winning back-to-back league games for only the second time this season to cut the gap to the play-offs to five points, Alexander wants to see his side string a run of results together to prove they can achieve something.

And he can sense the same attitude within the dressing room.

“We can all talk the best game in the world and say what we are,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you are what you do.

“I believe in that massively and try to live my own life like that. I try not to promise this, that and the other and just try to deliver.

“That’s what I’m there to do either as a coach, a player or a manager.

“I think we’ve got players who want to do that. They want to show what they can do rather than just say it.

“Ultimately, I think that will lead to good things.”

Alexander is only in his fourth week at the Valley Parade helm but the mood has lifted as City look to build a winning momentum.

“I took it for granted that they wouldn’t be top of the world when I came in.

“Football is quite universal. If you’re not winning and you’re low in the table, why should you be all happy and buoyant?

“It would maybe set the alarm bells ringing if that was the case.

“All I’ve looked for is who’s prepared to work hard and who’s prepared to understand disappointments and how to overcome them.

“Difficult moments happen all the time in individual games. Even if you’re winning week in, week out, there will be parts of those games when you have to dig deep and fight your way through a bad patch.

“It wasn’t the confidence side. I saw what I probably expected to see, although there was a little bit more determination to put it right, which was good.

“There was a little bit of humility. None of them were pretending that the team have been having a good season or they have been themselves.

“There was that understanding that we’ve got a lot of work to do and that gave me confidence that it’s a good group to work with.”

City have won three on the trot under Graham Alexander (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Having gone close last season with the play-off exit, City have struggled to hit their stride.

The lingering disappointment spilled over into a sluggish first couple of months to the campaign which cost Mark Hughes his job.

Alexander could appreciate the frustration affecting the players as they found it tough to carry on from where they had left off.

“You know you’re capable of more and better,” he added. “But you have to constantly do these things over and over again.

“You can’t rely on the past to win you any future points. That’s the same in any walk of life.

“Whatever you’ve done before is great because it shows that you can do it. But you’ve got to keep doing it.

“You have to understand what you were doing really well when you were winning and try to keep up those daily habits and aspects that you can tick off to ensure you win the next game.

“Sometimes you have to learn that the hard way as a player and a coach. The past is quickly forgotten.”

The Carlisle defeat in May hit the Bantams hard on and off the pitch. Hughes arguably never recovered from the second-leg agony.

Starting again after the club’s first play-off appearance in six years has proved tough.

Alexander said: “I’ve been part of that process myself as a player and manager where you go so close one season and you have to make sure you attack the next one and not have any hangover.

“It’s difficult. The first step might be after the game when you watch the other team celebrate.

“Obviously it was the semi-final and then you have to watch the final and think ‘what if’.

“Then you see the fixtures come out. You’re thinking, ‘we could have been playing these’ but instead we’re doing this again.

Carlisle fans on the pitch after beating City in the play-offs (Image: Simon Parker)

“It’s a little bit of a time process. But you’ve got to forget about it and think, ‘this is my life now so let’s crack on’.

“It’s easier said than done but I still think there’s enough of the season for us to have a positive one.”

With no weekend involvement in the FA Cup, City have a few extra days to prepare for their Bristol Street Motors Trophy second-round tie with Liverpool under-21s on Tuesday.

“There is no downside to winning games,” added the Bantams boss.

“Sometimes you want a game straight away to keep that momentum. Sometimes it’s good just to sit back and go, ‘yeah, we’ve done okay’.

“But what we can’t do is think we’ve done anything major or long-term. There are still a lot of games to play, a lot of work to be done and we have to make sure that we’re doing that.”

Carlisle were yesterday handed a £5,000 fine and a warning by an FA independent regulatory commission for crowd control misconduct at the City game.