When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper 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 becoming a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and representing England too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood back was something I really needed.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking his development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
