Alexander has no hard feelings ahead of Highbury return

Scunthorpe United mager, Graham Alexander during the pre-season friendly match at Glanford Park, Scunthorpe. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday July 23, 2016. See PA story SOCCER Scunthorpe. Photo credit should read: Richard Sellers/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications.

A 5-1 defeat at Gillingham was the final straw for Town chairman Andy Pille,y who sacked Alexander due to Town’s poor start to the campaign in September 2015.

Steven Pressley was brought in as replacement but Fleetwood continued to spend most of the campaign hovering in and out of the bottom four before sealing survival with a win over Crewe on the final day.

Pressley resigned just before the new League One campaign kicked-off and Alexander now brings his Scunthorpe side and his ex-Fleetwood assistant manager Chris Lucketti to face Uwe Rosler’s reinvigorated Town.

Ex-Preston defender Alexander was appointed at Highbury following the sacking of Micky Mellon in December 2012 and guided Town to promotion via the League Two play-offs in 2014.

The following season saw Alexander’s Town finish 10th in League One, their highest-ever placing.

But the poor start to last season saw Pilley pull the trigger. After six months out of the game, the 44-year-old resurfaced at Scunthorpe.

And Alexander says he left Town in a better position than he found it and he won’t let the final days of his reign sour his memories.

Alexander said: “I am looking forward to going back there. I had a great time and it was my first real job as a management duo (with Lucketti), apart from the youth team at Preston.

“There was a lot of faith shown in us when we first took the job and a lot of support for us to be successful.

“Getting promotion was a fantastic feeling and finishing in the top 10 in Fleetwood’s first season in League One was great.

“Unfortunately things went sour in the last couple of weeks, which is why I left, but I won’t let that last little period spoil what a great time I had at that club.

“I am proud of the job we did and I felt that when we left the club it was in a better place and at a better level, which is the main aspiration of any manager.

“I still keep in touch with a few people over there. There were loads of great people who showed myself, Chris and the whole team great support.

“The majority of players are still there from my period there and I have not got any hard feelings from what happened.

“I moved on, they moved on and I have come to a quality club that I am close to.

“I am working with great people here, so I’m in a happy place and enjoying my football.”