THIS week’s column is dedicated to Keith Alexander – a true gentleman on and off the field. I thought it was magnificent by the FA to allow England and the Under 21s to wear black armbands in respect of Keith. It was magnificent also to see all 72 clubs in the Football League wearing armbands. It just goes to show how well respected he was throughout the land for what he did for football as the first black manager. I employed him as a player at Barnet for two years when we were in non-league football. Even then he was saying he wanted to take coaching badges and become a boss. I encouraged him and he managed in non-league before getting into the Football League with Lincoln City. He did a wonderful job there and got them into the playoffs with a shoestring budget – a fantastic achievement. When I was owner of Peterborough and stuck for a manager, I appointed Keith and he did a brilliant job at Posh for me. He brought George Boyd, Craig Mackail- Smith, Aaron McLean and Craig Morgan to the club. Those four players played a huge part in getting us promoted– Keith signed us four legends. I always kept in touch with Keith and we used to speak every week. The beauty with him was he was a real football man. He’d do anything for anybody off the field and he was a leading light, especially for black players who wanted to become managers. It was very difficult for black players to get jobs as managers. It’s very sad because I was one of the first managers to appoint a black assistant in Edward Stein. They did a fantastic job, as Paul Ince did at Macclesfield and is still doing with MK Dons. Black managers are not given much of a chance which is probably why everyone had such respect for Keith. The way he conducted himself on and off the field was always professional. He had time for everyone – even if his team had lost 6-0. He was brilliant at Peterborough – opening school fates and attending all sort of charity dos. I now hope the FA, LMA and PFA get together and put on a special match for him and his family, he deserves it. He was a manager who never moaned. He just got on with it. He was just like that as a player as well. The biggest smile I got out of him was when he scored a fantastic goal. He got the ball 25 yards from goal and took it on his chest, swivelled round and hit a volley that broke the net. He normally only scored tap-ins or bundled the ball over the line with his long legs but he managed to score one screamer in about 25 years! He was just such a great character and it was devastating news when we all learned of his death. We’d only been watching him on the television at midnight after the defeat to Notts County. It was tragic news.

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