Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a story rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” Scott stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer 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 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.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was something I really required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I think he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at the club, remarked previously.
Within three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
Scott endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost another setback and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
