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There was a time, as Alex Scott made his name at Bristol City, when he was known affectionately as the “Guernsey Grealish”. It was the hairstyle, the low socks, the sense of adventure about his midfield play. As Scott puts it, the club’s manager, Nigel Pearson, gave him “a lot of freedom to go out and almost do what I wanted”.
It changed after he made his £25m move to Bournemouth in the summer of 2023; there was a greater need for tactical discipline, for defensive responsibility. He became more of a No 8. So, less like an early years Jack Grealish, who is now on loan at Everton from Manchester City.
But as Scott reflects on his excellent form across the early months of the season, which has led to him winning his first call-up to the England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia at Wembley on Thursday and Albania in Tirana three days later, there is one bit of the nickname that will never change; the part relating to Guernsey, where he is from, which goes deep into his DNA.
The 22-year-old stands to become only the third Channel Islander to play for the England men’s team after Matt Le Tissier, another son of Guernsey, and Graeme Le Saux, who is from Jersey. There is also Scott’s stepsister, Maya Le Tissier (no relation to Matt), who has 10 caps for the England women’s side and was a part of the squad that won the European Championship in the summer. What binds them is what they like to call the islander mentality.
“For me, it just means we are fearless,” Scott says. “I think when we get an opportunity … because they’re tough to come by back home, it’s tough to get to the mainland. I feel like we take them when they come around.”
It talks to difficulties of a logistical nature. When Scott was on Southampton’s books between the ages of eight and 12, he would fly in from Guernsey every Friday with one of his parents for training and matches, staying in a hotel, returning on Sunday night. He often came over with Maya, who is now at Manchester United; in those days, she played for Hampshire.
It also speaks to an ability to overcome setbacks and there have certainly been a few of those for Scott, most recently the injuries that scarred his first two seasons at Bournemouth. The biggest one was to his knee last October which ruled him out for four months.
At least Scott had made it as a professional by then. When he was released by Southampton and later, before he turned 14, walked away from a year-long spell at the Bournemouth academy – he was not getting the game-time or enjoyment – it was difficult to see a future for him in football. “When I got released by Southampton, it was pretty upsetting,” he says. “It felt like I’d committed four years of my life to this and for it to be blown away … it was heartbreaking.”
Scott’s salvation was Guernsey, being back at home where he could live a more normal teenage life with his family and friends. He played for a local team and rekindled his love of the game. What was less normal was what he did at 16 – he played men’s football for Guernsey FC in the eighth-tier Isthmian League Division One South East, becoming the club’s youngest ever player. When he excelled over the first half of the season, Bristol City came calling, offering him a scholarship in January 2020.
Scott says there were times when he could not see himself as a professional footballer and he was a little lost. “I went to college for half a year [while he played for Guernsey], doing a sport course,” he says. “I didn’t know what else to do. I failed PE at school. I wasn’t great at school. There was nothing on my mind that I really wanted to do.”
As an aside, how does a future Premier League player fail GCSE PE? “The written coursework,” Scott replies. “I was no good at that. I passed English and maths, though, so that’s most important.”
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Everything changed after Scott scored a hat-trick in his trial game for Bristol City; how he would grab his opportunity at the club, speeding through the youth ranks into the first team, his background in the men’s game with Guernsey giving him an edge.
Scott got into the England setup at under-18 level and he was an integral part of the team that won the European Under‑19 Championship in the summer of 2022. Then, in this past summer, he starred alongside Elliot Anderson in midfield as the under‑21s retained their European title.
Thomas Tuchel was so impressed by Anderson’s performance in the final against Germany that he called him up for the senior camp in September, believing he could be the solution in the No 6 role. Anderson has since started in every England game. Scott is in the squad as a No 8 and it will plainly be difficult to dislodge Declan Rice. His focus is purely on showing what he can do: being brave, which comes as standard, and continuing to make people proud, including Maya, who has been on the journey with him.
“My dad is with her mum,” Scott says. “We’ve grown up together and we’re very close. We speak most days. I couldn’t be prouder of her. She can help me out with advice. It’s nice to have someone around who has experienced it and been around the Lionesses and England, in general.”
Scott has another connection to the women’s game via his namesake, the female Alex Scott, who has just been named as an I’m A Celebrity contestant and is one of England’s most-capped players. “I saw something the other day that said I’d done well getting called up and going on I’m A Celebrity at the same time,” he says with a smile. Scott is all business about seizing his moment.
