When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? 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 England as well,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that slice of youth back was a thing I really required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had 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 stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed 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 skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Less than 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season just as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
