When the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the senior England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey 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 Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and taking part in local 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 youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute 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 side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side 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.”
In just a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days after, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for his club, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
