The inside Bristol City story as to how club unearthed £25m gem Alex Scott

Two key Bristol City figures have revealed how they came to sign the £25m rated Alex Scott.

Scott is the talk of English football right now, and there is an acceptance amongst the Robins fans base that he may have played his last game for the club. He was seen at Loftus Road taking in the fans’ admiration after City had recorded a 2-0 win over QPR.

The 19-year-old put in a fine performance and whilst there is no concrete information that he is leaving, this summer could be the time the two part ways.

A fee of £25m has been suggested in the media as to what could prize Scott away from Ashton Gate, but that could increase. Brighton and Liverpool are the latest two clubs to join the race and Premier League clubs could make for a bidding war for one of the EFL’s most in-demand player.

But how did City unearth such a gem, who they will for sure make a profit on if not now but soon?

Steve Lansdown, owner of the club, is based in Guernsey and his move to the island ultimately led to City finding the England Under-20 international.

“When I moved to the island in 2010 I got to know Tony Vance pretty well and followed the Guernsey story,” revealed Lansdown, who was appearing on Guernsey football documentary The Island Dream.

“We communicated and Tony created links with Brian Tinnion in particular back in Bristol.

“Tony has gone over there and coached and we’ve had the odd trips over here as well and so it built a relationship. It was just a natural progression.

“I think that if you know if as and when and it has a good player comes along, give them the opportunity to see what they can do in professional football.”

Scott was released by Southampton as a youngster and was keen to enjoy his football again. He was given the chance to play senior level football for Guernsey, who play in the English pyramid system as a club.

He made his debut as a 16-year-old and became the youngest ever player. Four months later he was unveiled as a City player.

Brian Tinnion, now in charge of transfers at Bristol City received a phone call from Tony Vance - manager of Guernsey at the time. City had already been aware of the untried youngster at the time, and to get a closer look organised a friendly for him to showcase his stuff.

He did just that, scoring a perfect hat-trick by scoring with both feet and his head against an unnamed London academy side. The rest is history with Scott making almost 100 competitive appearances for the club, before reaching the end of his teenage years.

Also appearing on The Island Dream, he said: “I’ve got a good relationship with Tony Vance at Guernsey, and we’ve loaned some players Tony in Guernsey.

“I’m really close with him and any players that he sees out in his league and when their teams are playing he lets me know.

“He phoned me one day and said Alex Scott’s doing extremely well. He’d been over in a friendly about six months before and played our Under-18’s and did really well, and we got him across.

“We said right come on let’s have a look. We came over we organised a game for him to play against a team from London, an academy and within half an hour he scored a hat-trick. He scored a left foot, right foot and a header.

“We went over to Guernsey, got him signed, met his mum and dad all lovely people and he’s come and took off since really but a great story.”

Scott isn’t the only player to have made the move from the 64,000 populated island of Guernsey. Last year saw Ben Acey and Tim Ap Sion pen terms with the club.

Acey and Sion had featured for City’s academy teams, and are hoping to follow in the footsteps of Scott, who has proven to be an inspiration to those in the academy.

So could we see more hidden gems snapped up from the island? Just as long as Tony Vance keeps suggesting them.. Tinnion said: “We keep in contact a lot,” he said. Tony has visits over here and we go to games together and watch games here.

““We keep in contact a lot,” he said.He’s constantly telling me what’s over there and what might be the next one. I’m sure there’s going to be more players come over. “

The Island Dream is a football documentary that documents Alex Scott and Ben Acey’s journey in to professional football. It is produced by University of Winchester Sports Journalism student Harry Jones. You can watch the documentary in its entirety here.