and their reluctance to release players for training with BFA staff coaches is causing grave concern.

So says Bermuda's Director of Coaching Clyde Best who wants the problem sorted out quickly in the New Year.

"We have a few coaches here who I would call very selfish,'' said Best yesterday. "Players are noticing it, the BFA coaching staff are noticing it ... they are not allowing their players to come and participate in the national programme and it really does concern us.

"It's difficult for BFA coaches. We have to evaluate and look at the players and if they are not allowed to come to training what can we do. We in Bermuda must remember that our national programme has to be a number one priority -- a club programme is there to help develop a national programme.'' Having held down the post for the last 18 months, Best said he believed the unavailability of players along with various other problems had prevented him from making the progress he would have liked. Many of the difficulties he has encountered have come about as a result of a lack of funding.

But he said he remained committed to the job and would overcome these obstacles in order to achieve his goals.

High on his priority list in the new year, though, is the release of players by their clubs for national team training.

"The club coaches have to look themselves in the mirror and be honest with themselves. One or two of them have played international soccer for their country. They benefited, but why are they restricting others from accomplishing the same,'' he said.

"The various clubs have to look into the matter because that's where the problem is. When we are picking players from the clubs and cannot get them, we have to know because we can then pick somebody else.

"But if these people are our best players, in order for us to be successful it is important that they are made available.

"The country must come first, not individuals, not coaches, it's the country.

"Not all the clubs are guilty. There are lots who have supported us, but there remain a few who are hampering the progress of our programme.

"To these coaches I would say `get your heads out of the clouds' ... don't pretend that you know everything in soccer. Come aboard and help out so that we can all go forward together. You don't know it all, you haven't written a soccer manual, you probably don't even own one. When you walk around and think you know it all you are only fooling yourself. You are always going to be just a soccer coach in little Bermuda.'' Still, Best insisted he wasn't discouraged and intended to pursue a course that would help Bermuda soccer rebuild.

"We want to continue to strive for excellence, to raise our standards which have obviously slipped over the years. At the club level and all the way up, we have to make sure we play good soccer. Our level is not very high, we have to bring it up where it's going to benefit everybody. We can't just improve the club standard and not want to improve our national standard. The club is supposed to be the feeder for our national programme.'' Best said some coaches appeared to feel that they were "a little wiser than others'' and were often negative about things that developed at a national level.

"To these coaches I say because you have had an opportunity to go abroad and get information, don't think that you know it all. I have played abroad all of my life, but I am probably one of the most humble persons in this entire country. I don't go around shooting off my mouth. I ask coaches to be humble, be nice and remember that in this game you never stop learning. "If you have the know-it-all mentality, you better change because the only place you are going to be coaching is here in this Island.

"You can't say you want to play a certain way, you have to adapt to the quality of players you have. You can't just say you want to adopt a Brazilian or English style. It simply cannot be done.

"If everybody understood their responsibilities, the players and coaches all shared in spreading information and not being selfish, we could move forward and accomplish great things on the field of soccer.''