NEIL ALEXANDER will likely be training on Saturday, preparing himself for Crystal Palace's trip to face Tottenham Hotspur in their first game back in the Barclays Premier League.

Around him, his new team-mates will be nervous, excited and apprehensive. The Scot will be wrestling with his emotions, too. After all, he claims he would rather be at Stair Park, Stranraer.

The 35-year-old has completed what of his contemporaries would consider a dream move but, rather than test himself in the top division of English football, Alexander wishes that he was still at Rangers, playing his part in this season's SPFL League 1 campaign. Having been one of only three senior players to stay after the club were liquidated last year, he was willing to take a cut in salary when his deal expired over the summer but insists he simply could not accept the reduced terms offered by the Ibrox board.

After a fretful summer, he this week signed a one-year deal with Palace where he will be vying with Julian Speroni, the former Dundee goalkeeper, for a starting place. It might seem like he has landed on his feet, but Alexander still harbours regrets. "I would rather still be at Rangers but I'm pleased I have been given this chance and I'm going to enjoy it," he said. "I'm extremely disappointed that it didn't work out for me at Rangers because I would have loved to have stayed if things had worked out differently. I was desperate to stay but the contract offer was just not acceptable. I felt I deserved better.

"I'm still a Rangers supporter at heart and I feel proud I have played my part in the recovery of the club by agreeing to stay in the summer of 2012 and playing in the third division, so I will look back on that with affection. Like the rest of the players, I took a pay cut for three months last year, which was tough to do, but it was in the best interests of the club and that was the most important thing. I chose to stay because it meant everything to me to become the No.1. It was my dream to complete the whole journey back to the top but that's not to be."

It was George Wood, who kept goal when Scotland played at Wembley in 1979, who was the catalyst for Alexander joining Palace, who are back in England's top flight after beating Watford 1-0 in the npower Championship playoff final. Wood coached Alexander at Cardiff City and recommended him to Ian Holloway, the Palace manager.

"It was a chance conversation with George which got the ball rolling," Alexander said. "I knew George when he worked at Cardiff and he said to me 'You'd be perfect for Palace' and that he would have a word with Ian. So things developed from there and I went to London at the weekend and we managed to get the deal done after I passed a medical, so it's brilliant for me.

"It has been a really tough summer. I had no idea what was going to happen and, as the season came ever closer, I wondered if I would get a club. The wondering and the waiting was hard because you just don't know what will happen next. So it's fantastic that I have managed to sign for Crystal Palace and I can't wait to get going. It's only for a year but there has been a discussion on extending that if things go well so it's up to me to rise to that challenge.

"This is a fantastic opportunity. Julian Speroni is the No.1 and has been for a while but there are a lot of games in the season and if I can push him hard then you never know. I met him for the first time earlier this week and he is a really nice guy so I think we are going to get on well together. I realise that Palace are favourites to be relegated but that's up to us to have something to say about that,

"The first match of the season is against Spurs at White Hart Lane and we're at Old Trafford in three weeks' time. It's brilliant for me."