Laws knew the 53-year-old well from his time in charge at Scunthorpe and said the former Lincoln boss "broke the mould" for black managers. Burnley also suffered two losses of their own in the last few days with Janette Fackrell, the mother of young striker Alex MacDonald, and former club goalkeeper Adam Blacklaw, both passing away. "It has been a terrible week for many reasons. I've known Keith a long time and it was sad to hear what had happened," said Laws. "It just shows you how things can catch you up when you least expect it. "He had a bad time at Lincoln (when he suffered a cerebral aneurysm) but overcame everything and we had some right ding-dongs when he was there and I was at Scunthorpe because that was our local derby. "One thing that has been very solid has been our relationship all the way through, which was fantastic. "He broke the mould as one of the first black managers to have success and some time in football whereas a lot of managers particularly in that era were very short-lived. "He is going to be a sad loss to football." Alexander collapsed at his home in Lincoln after travelling back from his side's game at Notts County on Tuesday night.
