When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the full 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 era.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and representing the national team as well,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play 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 remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood back was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in local football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
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 fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
