When Alex Scott made 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 prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for England as well,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of 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 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 heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill 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 Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than three months later, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
