When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for England too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement 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 side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked previously.
Within 90 days later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for his club, playing in every game to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest 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 every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
