When Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true blast from the past, a story rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing England too,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every 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 he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally 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 the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he will represent England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within 90 days after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the club, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign 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 nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
