Macclesfield manager Keith Alexander dies at the age of 53

Trampas

BBC reporting

UnitedIrishman

Jesus that's shocking.

Was only watching an interview of his on SSN at the weekend, think he picked up an award.

RIP.

Very sad to hear.

RIP

DrumSteve

thats pretty bad stuff. just seen it on SSN. He was only 53. RIP.

"For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. ~William Penn"

GLaDOS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/macclesfield_town/8547410.stm

No news as to what happened yet, but I'm sure it will update, tragic

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ScienceNerd wrote: »

No news as to what happened yet, but I'm sure it will update, tragic

He had problems with his brain, and suffered an aneurysm 7 years ago

Johner

That is just awful.

RIP.

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The Macclesfield Assistant Manager, Gary Simpson I think, said on SSN that Keith Alexander had had a "bout of hiccups that lasted for two or three weeks" :eek:

dsmythy

Des wrote: »

The Macclesfield Assistant Manager, Gary Simpson I think, said on SSN that Keith Alexander had had a "bout of hiccups that lasted for two or three weeks" :eek:

Presumably it's brain related. That opens up the possibility of a problem with his breathing. RIP anyway.

That_Guy

RIP. That's extremely sad. Young too.

Ferris_Bueller

Rest In Peace

greendom

He played at Barnet under Barry Fry just before we went up to the league in the late 80s.

Great attitude and always seemed a happy fellow. I always remember a goal he scored in a 3-2 win over Weymouth in a mud bath with 60 mile an hour winds.

We were 2 - 0 down against the team with the best defensive record in the league and Keith started the turn around with a shot from 10 yards that trickled through puddle after puddle until stopping just over the goal line.

Nice guy and very sad to hear this news

OhNoYouDidn't

I remember him playing for Cliftonville and absolutely destroying Linfield.

RIP.

The Guardian have a very nice piece in todays Fiver on him.

A LARGER THAN LIFE CHARACTER ... A SUPERB HUMAN BEING'

Keith Alexander, who died last night at the age of 53, was a pioneer in British football. At Lincoln in 1993 he became the first black full-time manager in the Football League (Ed Stein having had a brief caretaker spell in charge of Barnet earlier the same year) and on more than one occasion since he has been the only black manager in England's four divisions. His appointment should have, but shamefully hasn't, opened the floodgates to black managers in English football.

Today the tributes have been as effusive as they have been numerous. "Over and above being the absolute professional in everything he did, Keith was one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet," said the Lincoln City chairman Steff Wright. "Keith was a splendid man, a real gentleman and an absolute privilege to work with," said Mike Rance, chairman of Macclesfield Town, where Alexander managed his final game on Tuesday evening. "He was a larger than life character - an absolutely superb human being," was his Macclesfield assistant Gary Simpson's tribute.

Alexander came late to football and early to management. The son of a miner, he didn't turn professional until the age of 28. His playing career was hardly stellar but had its moments - an Alexander goal for Grimsby at Wimbledon's Plough Lane in 1989 was memorably greeted by 5,000 blow-up haddock in the away end at the beginning of football fans' short-lived obsession with inflatables. Four years later, at the tender age of 34, he became manager of Lincoln for the first time. After nine months at Sincil Bank he was dismissed and forced to rebuild his reputation during lengthy spells in non-league football with Ilkeston Town and Northwich Victoria.

He returned to Lincoln in 2002 and led the club to four successive (though ultimately unsuccessful) play-off campaigns. Alexander's first tilt at promotion in 2002-03 was astonishing. The club had been on the verge of extinction in the spring of 2002, the then-chairman warning that their final home game of the season "could be the last game in the club's history". In the summer Alexander was appointed on the day the club went into administration, a position from which the club emerged just five days before the start of the season. Yet, with a team cobbled together from former non-leaguers and the rump of Alan Buckley's old squad, the Imps came within one game of promotion, losing to Bournemouth at the Millennium Stadium.

Despite ill-health - he spent his 45th birthday undergoing nine hours surgery after suffering a brain aneurysm - he swapped Sincil Bank for London Road for a brief spell in 2006 (signing several of the players that would help Peterborough to back-to-back promotions) and joined Macclesfield in February 2008, leaving a lasting impression wherever his boots graced the dugout. While his career, one spent battling at the sharp, insecure end of English football, deserves to be defined by more than the colour of his skin, he will be remembered as a breaker of barriers. The England team will quite rightly wear black armbands at Wembley this evening.

JP Liz V1

Macclesfield Town manager Keith Alexander has died. He was 53.
Alexander, who recently took time off due to illness, passed away after arriving home on Tuesday night from Macclesfield's League Two loss at Notts County.
A statement on Macclesfield's official website said: "It is our sad duty to report that Keith Alexander passed away today after arriving home from Macclesfield Town's game at Notts County last night.
"Keith was a splendid man. He will be sorely missed at the Moss Rose and by everyone involved in football. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family at this very difficult time."
In 2003, while in charge at Lincoln City, Alexander needed life-saving surgery after being diagnosed with a double cerebral aneurysm. Last year he had another scan during a scare which turned out to be a false alarm and was put down to a bug going round the club.
Alexander said at the time: "Perhaps I shouldn't have come into work that day, but my generation just goes to work, no matter what. You get on with it and don't make excuses."
After temporarily retiring in 1993, Alexander spent a year in charge of Lincoln before resuming his playing career.
Hanging up his boots for good two years later, he had spells in charge of Ilkeston Town and Northwich Victoria, before returning to manage the Imps for a second time in 2001. During his five-year tenure, he took the club to four consecutive promotion play-offs.
After taking the reins at Peterborough United as manager and Bury as director of football, Alexander arrived at Macclesfield in 2008 and helped the club avoid relegation in his first season.
In his playing days, as a striker, Alexander made three international appearances for St Lucia, and recently founded the Sacred Sports Foundation to help increase sporting opportunities for children on the Caribbean island.
League Managers' Association chief executive Richard Bevan also paid tribute to Alexander, highlighting his significant role as the first black manager in the Football League.
Bevan said in a statement: "Our thoughts are with Keith's family at this very difficult time. This will have been a dreadful shock to his wife Helen their two children Jack and Jenny and his two other sons Paul and Matt.
"He will be sorely missed by the LMA, its members and the whole of the football community. Keith was an active member of the LMA and our projects with The Prince's Trust in particular, and his contribution to the well-being of the game is widely acknowledged. Nobody would deny that Keith knew just about all there is to know about managing football clubs on a low budget. He was a champion of civil rights and equality issues and was also active in the Black Coaches Association."
The England senior and U21 teams are to wear black armbands for their matches on Wednesday night as a mark of respect to Alexander.

RIP

grenache

Yeah he did a pretty decent job with Lincoln alright, kept them in the football league when they would have gone bust otherwise. RIP.

Vurnon San Benito

RIP Keith, highly respected man.

Stevecw

Very sad, shocked when I saw this today.

Never knew about his previous illness. Its so strange and sad to see a man who actually managed a team this time last evening, is no longer with us.

So young too at 53...RIP.