When Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really required.
“Building a bit of confidence by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian 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 team because he’s that good,” manager the coach stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’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 England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year 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 started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for Bournemouth, 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 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 with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
