When Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against 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 turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for England too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost several years of that experience. To have that little bit of youth again was something I definitely required.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring his development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
He made 83 league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Less than 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the club, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
