Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early 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 club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was something I really needed.
“Building some confidence by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet 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 the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
