Barker names Alexander as Reds captain (From The Argus)

Barker names Alexander as Reds captain

10:00am Tuesday 14th August 2012 in Crawley Town By Howard Griggs

Gary Alexander will lead Crawley into action away to his former club Millwall tonight.

The experienced striker has been named as the club’s new captain by boss Richie Barker. He will lead out the Reds for their Capital One Cup first round tie at The Den.

Alexander, a self-confessed Millwall fan, played 91 games for the Lions after joining from Leyton Orient in 2007 and scored twice for them in the 2009 League One play-off final at Wembley.

Barker believes he is an obvious choice for the role which has been up for grabs since Pablo Mills was stripped of the armband following the ‘Battle of Bradford’ in March.

Kyle McFadzean was a contender for the role but new boss Barker has plumped for 32-year-old Alexander, who has performed the task during pre-season.

He said: “It was something I needed to make a decision on pretty quickly. I know he had been doing it. He was going to be one of my choices anyway and the feedback I got from people was he was a decent choice.

“I have known of him for quite a while so for me it was a no brainer.

“When you look for a captain, you look for leadership, experience, somebody who does things the right way.

“I did it myself for a couple of years as a player and I expect in training every day my captain to lead by example, in terms of making sure things are done right. I watched him in training for a couple of days and he does things in the right way, he demands things from people so that is what I am looking for.”

Barker has no injury concerns ahead of the game.

No decision has yet been made on trialist striker Calvin Andrew, the former Albion loanee who was released by Crystal Palace at the end of last season.