Graham Alexander made history when he became only the second outfield player to break the 1,000 league game barrier last Saturday. CHRIS SUMPTER spoke to the one-time Iron defender, to find out how his time at Glanford Park has helped shape him into the player he is today.

FOR A man who spent the formative years of his career looking to play just one game in the Football League, the magnitude of last weekend's landmark appearance has still not sunk in with Graham Alexander.

A three-minute cameo from the bench during Burnley's impressive 2-1 victory over Swansea City was the veteran's 1,000th in English football.

It means he has joined his one-time Scunthorpe United team-mate Tony Ford as only the second outfield player to top the four-figure game barrier.

It is undoubtedly an achievement most players will never reach. But then again, Alexander is not most players.

A loyal servant wherever he has played, the modest midfielder says it is a 'great honour' to have received the acclaim.

But it is true to the 39-year-old's character that he was far happier Burnley won the game and kept alive their hopes of gate-crashing the Championship play-offs.

"I wanted it to happen in the right way, so it was a fantastic feeling to come off the field knowing we'd won a big game," says Alexander of the occasion.

He also admits it is a milestone he never even dreamed about reaching when he was offered the chance to join the Iron on a YT contract in 1988.

"When you're 18 or 19, you don't look beyond 20. You just live for the day," Alexander exclusively tells the Telegraph about where a remarkable playing career began.

"I wouldn't say I was blase, because that's quite disrespectful, but I was quite calm about reaching 1,000 games because I didn't realise what a big thing it would be.

"Other people were telling me what it meant and while I was looking forward to doing it, it probably won't be until a few years' time that it really sinks in.

"There's only two outfield players who've achieved it, which puts it into perspective.

"I'm the sort of person though that means it will be a few years before I sit back and go 'that's not bad'."

Although lucky enough to steer clear of long-term injury, there is nothing fortuitous about the reason why Alexander still finds himself competing in the Championship.

'Hard work' is a mantra he has made very much his own from the day, as a self-proclaimed 'skinny teenager', he was offered the chance to fulfil a boyhood ambition.

And despite his lengthy service, for that reason alone he suggests he will always be in United's debt.

"I left school at 16 and came to Scunny a wide eyed boy just desperate to make it as a professional footballer," said Alexander.

"I'd been for trials at so many clubs in the Midlands, but none had worked out.

"The chief scout at Coventry actually recommended me to Scunthorpe. He thought I had something, but that I was a bit of a late developer.

"Richard Money saw something in me and gave me a chance, so I worked really hard to become a pro.

"My target was one game, just so I could say I'd been a professional footballer.

"Scunthorpe were not just a massive part of my career, the place was a massive part of my life. I grew up there.

"I still see it as a shame that I've only gone back and played there once."

Although naturally polite and courteous, it is clear Scunthorpe United is a conversation topic about which Alexander is enthusiastic.

A self-proclaimed 'football geek', the way he talks about coming up through the Iron's youth ranks, as part of the same intake of youngsters as Richard Hall and Neil Cox, comes across as a supporter looking back on his club's golden era rather than a player recalling one of his former clubs.

Alexander's Iron bow was about as unglamorous as it gets.

He came off the bench at half-time to replace his youth coach, and later first-team manager, Richard Money at right-back in front of 1,500 die hard fans during a Sherpa Van Trophy match in December 1988.

It is an occasion which the player admits passed him by – given he had only been told by assistant boss Bill Green he was in the squad during a chat in the club shop hours earlier.

Instead, another appearance from the bench, during a league debut against Chesterfield, carries much greater significance.

"That was it for me, I knew then I'd be in the Rothmans yearbooks, so I was happy," he jokes of the bow, which will have been 20 years ago next Wednesday.

That 3-0 victory over the Spireites was the first of 159 league appearances the full-back made in claret and blue.

Since leaving Glanford Park in a £50,000 deal to Luton in the summer of 1995, Alexander has won 40 caps for Scotland and dined at football's top table, the Premier League, with Burnley.

Yet his days with the Iron, all of which were spent battling for the play-offs in Division Four and then Division Three, when it was re-branded, carry as much sparkle as those on the biggest stage.

Picking out individual memories from such a catalogue of matches is understandably difficult.

But given the magnitude of the occasion, it is clear the upset Alexander suffered having seen his shootout spot-kick saved during the Iron's play-off final defeat to Blackpool in 1992 is one experience which has made him the player he is today.

Since seeing his effort from 12 yards pushed away by Seasiders keeper Steve McIlhargey, the Coventry-born stalwart has made himself one of the game's greatest spot-kick takers.

It is with an alarming amount of modesty he talks about scoring 'something like 77 out of 83' when it comes to his penalty record, adding: "Really it's a free shot at goal."

But for all the success he has enjoyed in that department, he is still yet to erase one of the few misses.

"Missing that penalty was my first major disappointment in football, so it's probably shaped me quite a bit," Alexander admits when asked about the repercussions of shootout sadness in front of the old Twin Towers.

"I was young and naive and because I'd scored one in the FA Cup earlier that year that made me think I was going to score another one at Wembley.

"You never think there's a good chance you might miss it as well.

"It really affected me during the following summer. I was in tears.

"Billy Ayre, the Blackpool manager at the time, came up to me and had a few quiet words, as did Bill Green and he said, 'take it on board and remember the feeling. It will make you stronger'. I've tried to do that and it's very true.

"Football is the same as life, you're going to get ups and downs, and you've got to take something out of every situation, which I do.

"Since that day, I've wanted to bang in every penalty I can to wipe out the memory. But it's still there."

Memories mean a lot to the former Iron trainee.

So although obviously delighted with her hoarding husband's achievements, 1,000 games brings with it its own headache for Alexander's wife Karen.

"I keep stuff, like old programmes and photos from my career absolutely everywhere, it's ridiculous the amount of boxes I've got," he says.

"I was a bit of a football geek when I was a kid and I seem to have carried that on as a player.

"My wife tells me off. She'll ask me to move it or sort through it but once I've opened a box I spend three hours looking through it all and reminiscing.

"Then I'll put it away and it's out of the way for another year or so, but there's always another box."

Out of contract in the summer, the future is a much cloudier topic than the past for Alexander.

He is currently unsure whether he will get a chance to add another season's worth of games to his ever increasing tally – at Burnley or anywhere else.

He is already planning for life after he has hung up his boots and started coaching's top qualification, the UEFA Pro Licence, in January because he is determined to stay in the game that has become 'life'.

"I'm looking at the situation weekly, even daily, into the summer," adds the versatile midfielder.

"I might have a coaching role at Burnley next season, that's an option, but I'm in limbo at the moment.

"I have to make a decision in the next month, but I'm trying to concentrate on this season for as long as I can.

"I'm preparing myself for when I do finish playing – I have been for the past four or five years.

"I'll think about it now and then, but then immediately say to myself 'focus on the next few games' because we've still got a lot to play for.

"Going up two years ago was an amazing feeling. We all want to do it again and I want to be part of a team that wins something."

Given the amount of memorabilia another trip to Wembley may bring, Mrs Alexander may not be so enthusiastic.

This article was first published in Wednesday's Scunthorpe Telegraph.