Speaking to the media at Fir Park for the first time, 49-year-old Alexander, who was sacked by Salford after five games of this season despite being unbeaten in Sky Bet League Two, revealed he had taken soundings about Motherwell and is optimistic.

He said: "When I spoke to people about the club, they didn't believe there was a massive, massive problem.

"I think there are a couple of problems that we need to work out but I think it has been a team that has just been nearly there.

"So personally, sitting here, I don't think it is major surgery and big overhauls and drastic action."

The former Luton, Burnley and Preston defender discussed the move with former Motherwell boss Robinson, who gave him positive feedback about the Lanarkshire club.

He said: "I spoke to Stephen Robinson as well before I took the job.

"My teams had played against his in England and I just wanted to get a feel of what the difference is.

"The fixture list is a big one because in England it is Saturday/Tuesday for six months of a year.

"He found he got more coaching time with the players here which he found to be brilliant.

"He said he couldn't speak highly enough about the people, the club, the fans and the players as well. He just felt it was time for a change for everybody.

"He said for some reason it is not quite working at the moment and he knows I am a relatively experienced manager and have had success in England.

"You can see a club from the outside but speaking to someone who has been in here, working day in, day out, he was so complimentary about everyone."

Alexander is looking to get off to the perfect start against the Buddies but will not make instant judgements either way.

The former Fleetwood and Scunthorpe manager said: "I want to see the bounce over a period of time, tomorrow is not going to say everything is rosy.

"Listen, we want to win and it would be a great feeling to win but it's not going that be, 'that's it, happy days'.

"We are looking for consistency over a period of time and even if players have good games, you still want to see them over a period of time, their character is tested over a period of time.

"So I won't be making my mind up over players positively or negatively on one game or one training session, it is going to be over a period of time."