Bradford City have given Preston North End permission to speak to manager Graham Alexander about the Championship club’s managerial vacancy, but did so reluctantly.
The Bantams confirmed the approach in a statement. “Bradford City AFC can confirm we have been approached by Preston North End to speak to Graham Alexander regarding the Championship side’s managerial vacancy,” the club said. “Reluctantly, Bradford City has granted permission for Graham to speak to Preston North End.”
Preston are searching for a new manager after sacking Paul Heckingbottom earlier this month. Heckingbottom had been in charge for two years but paid the price for a run of six defeats in Preston’s opening seven league games. BBC Radio Lancashire reports Preston are down to their final two candidates for the role.
Alexander is a familiar figure at Deepdale. The 54-year-old had two spells at Preston as a player, making 372 league appearances for the club, and had a five-game spell in caretaker charge in 2011-12 before ending his playing career there at the end of that season aged 40.
His managerial career has included spells in charge of Fleetwood, Scunthorpe, Salford, Motherwell and MK Dons. He took over at Bradford in November 2023 and led the club to promotion from League Two in his first full season. Bradford finished fourth in League One in 2025-26 before losing to Bolton Wanderers in the play-offs. Alexander, a former Scotland international, is contracted to the club until the end of next season. He has won 79 of his 158 games in charge of Bradford, a win ratio of exactly 50%.
Bradford are top of League One with five wins from their first seven games of the season. Preston, meanwhile, are second bottom of the Championship with four points from eight matches. They host Millwall in their first game after the international break on Saturday, 10 October.