Bradford 'reluctantly' let Preston talk to Alexander

Bradford City have "reluctantly" given Championship side Preston North End permission to speak to manager Graham Alexander about Preston's managerial vacancy, the club confirmed on 24 September 2026.

"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 Bantams said in a statement., external "Reluctantly, Bradford City has granted permission for Graham to speak to Preston North End."

Alexander has won 79 of his 158 games in charge of Bradford City, a win ratio of exactly 50%. He took over at Valley Parade in November 2023 and led the club to promotion from League Two in his first full season in charge.

Bradford finished fourth in League One in 2025-26 before losing to Bolton Wanderers in the play-offs and are top of League One this season with five wins from their first seven games. Alexander is contracted to Bradford City until the end of next season.

The former Scotland international, aged 54, has had managerial spells at Fleetwood, Scunthorpe, Salford, Motherwell and MK Dons.

As a player he had two spells at Deepdale, making 372 league appearances for Preston, and he had a five-game spell in caretaker charge in 2011-12 before ending his playing career with the Lilywhites at the end of that season, aged 40.

Paul Heckingbottom was sacked after two years in charge of Preston earlier this month following six defeats in their opening seven league games. Preston are second bottom of the Championship with four points from eight matches and BBC Radio Lancashire reports they are down to their final two candidates for the role. Preston host Millwall in their first game after the international break on Saturday, 10 October.