GRAHAM Alexander’s long-serving career hit a high this week as he celebrated his 40th birthday. The former Clarets favourite left Turf Moor in the summer to rejoin Preston, after four seasons with Burnley. But here, in the second par of an exclusive interview, he says that he still gets a buzz out of football, but was disappointed that he did not play more under manager Eddie Howe.

WITH 1,000-plus games in the bank, you would think the novelty might have worn off a bit for Graham Alexander.

But the veteran is arguably more in love with football now than ever before after fearing his playing career was finished after leaving Turf Moor.

“When I walked out of the tunnel for my first game back at Preston – it could have been any tunnel because I’d just not had that feeling of getting the butterflies for such a long time,” said the ex-Claret, who returned for his second spell with North End in August.

“I hadn’t started a game for seven months. But coming out and hearing the crowd again, I said to myself ‘If this is your last game, enjoy it’. But I’ll only enjoy myself by competing and pushing myself.”

Even with 20 years’ experience behind him, he feels like he needs to keep proving himself too.

“It was a weird one because when I came back all the fans knew me and the ground staff and everything. But I only knew a couple of the lads, the rest of the dressing room was new so I had to prove myself to them. I wanted to show that I had something to give and prove I was capable of playing for the team and playing for the club,” he said.

“I want to help the team get back up, so there was pressure on my in that way, but the biggest pressure comes from within, especially at my age because you’re judged on everything you do, so I wanted to hit the ground running. So far it’s gone well.”

As well as a burning desire to keep playing, Alexander is still hungry to win things.

In a career spanning two decades, he has celebrated two promotions.

He could be in line for a third – a second at Preston – with North End flying high in League One.

But the former Burnley favourite, who captained the Clarets in the Premier League, feels it could have been more had they not let a good chance slip through their fingers last season.

When Brian Laws was sacked on December 29, in response to a 2-0 home defeat to Scunthorpe – their third loss in five games – Burnley were two points off the play-offs with a game in hand.

It wasn’t the worst position to be in, but with big ambitions to make an immediate return to the top flight and fans growing increasingly disillusioned with Owen Coyle’s successor, something had to change. In came Eddie Howe, but Alexander feels too much changed after that.

“The thing I’m disapp-ointed with is how, from January onwards, the focus seemed to shift to the future when I think we still had a good chance of being in the mix that season,” he noted.

“I’ve had two promotions in 20 years in football. You can’t pick and choose when you’re going to be successful. If you’re presented with a chance you’ve got to take it, regardless of whether you think it’s too early or if it doesn’t fit in with your grand scheme of things.

“You’ve got to take success when you’re offered it.”

In the remaining 22 games after Howe’s appointment, Alexander’s 14 appearances came from the bench, where he was often accompanied by experienced players such as Andre Amougou, Chris Iwelumo and Wade Elliott, for a spell.

“He obviously wanted to make his own stamp on the squad and I was the first casualty of that probably,” he said.

“I could see why they did it at the end of the season because it was a time for change and I’ve got no qualms about that.

“I think a lot of clubs do that, and who’s to say it won’t pay off this season or next – and hopefully it will because there are some great people at Burnley.

“But I didn’t think it was right halfway through a season.

“I didn’t start a game, but I knew that even if I wasn’t playing every week I could still play my part in however many games were left to help us get into the play-offs.

“That’s why I couldn’t understand looking to the future at that time, because we still had something to play for that season.”

He added: “It was a shame because we had a great spirit last year and a good mix of youth and experience.

“There’s an emphasis on the upcoming stars now, but there are still experienced lads there like Dean Marney, Michael Duff, Ross Wallace and Beasty (Brian Jensen), and Chris McCann’s got a lot of games under his belt.

“There are still players there to show the young lads the ropes.

“They’re great professionals and hopefully it will come good for them.”

The chances of success under Laws rarely looked favourable, and the bad feeling from the stands towards the then manager appeared to influence the players.

“It’s hard because you do hear lots of things about the dressing room,” said Alexander.

“Players, when they’re losing games, look to blame someone, and most times they’ll blame the manager and deflect the attention and responsibility from themselves.

“I’ve been there myself.

“I didn’t on this occasion because I was more experienced and I knew how hard it must be.

“But I’d been guilty of it when I was younger – blaming managers and assistant managers and what have you.

“I think there was a bit of that about, yes.”

But as he focuses on the future after joining a rare breed of 40-year-old footballers Alexander’s aiming for another shot at the top spots on his return to Deepdale.

“I feel like I’ve been given another chance,” he said.