Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true blast from the past, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott stated previously.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth again was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
He went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
