The pair have been put in temporary charge at Preston today when the inevitable happened and Phil Brown was shown the door by new chairman Peter Ridsdale.
Brown, who continues to claim he turned down the Burnley job last January for the post at Preston, has been in charge since 4th January. He was unable to prevent them suffering relegation after 11 years in the Championship and, after a good start to the season, has seen a slump that has left them fifteen points behind the automatic promotion places.
The new chairman, Ridsdale, arrived on Tuesday last week and was bound to want to put his own stamp on things immediately and, having said goodbye to both Brown and his assistant Brian Horton, who was working under the misguided belief that Preston are a big club, he has turned to the two former Clarets.
Unsworth is already a member of the coaching team and he'll work alongside Alexander who looked set for an absence from the first team picture having suffered a torn hamstring in the first minute of their big 0-0 draw against Stevenage last Saturday.
The pair will take charge for the first time at MK Franchise this Saturday where we believe, no matter what the result, neither will be rushing off to see relatives in Scotland nor asking Sandy Stewart to take the post match press conference.
The change takes Eddie Howe up to 55th place in the list of longest serving managers, a list that sees the brilliant Steve 'Agent' Kean now in the top half who we are pleased to report continues in his current role.