When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a true throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” 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 youth back was something I definitely needed.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“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 commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the next day I trained 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 Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
