When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” the player said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system 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.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Less than three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
