When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the senior England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and playing for England as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island 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 almost several years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood again was a thing I really needed.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Less than three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year 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 Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has started this season just as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
