When Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his first summons to the senior England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper throwback, a story seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and representing England as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option 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 chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth back was a thing I really required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was huge for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being used as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘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 young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Within three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for his club, featuring in all matches to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
