Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the senior England team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he opted to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth back was something I really required.
“To gain some self-belief by coming back and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got 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 league match at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
