Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true throwback, a story seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott stated previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I really required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and playing island football was massive for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an impressive beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
