Rising from non-league all the way to national team selection - who is ‘Guernsey Grealish’ Alex Scott?

Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”

This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.

Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the senior England team.

His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern game.

What’s next? A major tournament?

“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” the player said previously.

“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”

So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?

Developing in the lower tiers

Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.

He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.

Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.

Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.

“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.

“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I really required.

“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important factors that got me where I am today.”

At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.

“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 commented at the time.

“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”

Making a comeback to the pro ranks

Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.

“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a total surprise.

“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”

In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.

Scott made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.

With his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.

“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I think he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.

Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.

Securing his major transfer

Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.

His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost several months.

“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.

“It was almost another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.

He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.

And he has started this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.

“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.

“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”