Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the senior England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my family.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth gave him an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood back was something I definitely needed.
“Building some confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
Scott endured a challenging first season with the club, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
