Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true throwback, a story seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave 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 chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager the coach stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly four months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
