When Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked previously.
Less than 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
