BERMUDA’S team in the United Soccer League will soon know their schedule for next season. So said general manager and former Premiership player Shaun Goater this week.

Goater who attended the USL annual general meeting last month in Tampa, Florida, said: “The operations manager of the league is looking at the fixtures now and seeing if it will work properly. The league will confirm and finalise the schedule and I think we will find out around Christmas who and when we are playing.”

Goater said he received a “lot of good information” at the AGM last month. “I am understanding the business side of it more now. It was all fairly new to me.”

And he can’t wait until April 20 when the season kicks off.

Bermuda will play a 20-game season in the Second Division of the USL and the home field will be the National Sports Centre.

Goater, along with partners Kyle Lightbourne and Paul Scope, said one of the main things he will be working on before the season starts is trying to get some sort of airline package.

While Bermuda will play 10 of the games at home, they will have to travel to the US for the remaining matches which could make it an expensive proposition.

“There is no question that the costs of flying will be huge. We will be looking at sponsorship and speaking to various people about keeping those costs down. Hopefully some positive things can come out of those discussions. It will be very important to cut down on flying costs.”The USL Division Two is the third tier of the game in the US.

Lightbourne, who is Bermuda’s national coach, is expected to select 26 players to fill out his roster. And many of those chosen can expect to be called up to the national squad.

Goater said: “The more we can get people playing professionally the better it will be for Bermuda. It is all about improving — we have to give our players a platform to go and showcase their talent. All these players will get better exposure and will be involved with the national team so when the national team is called upon to play we will be closer to the Trinidads, Jamaicas and US. That means that we can compete better instead of showing up to make up the numbers. We can realistically go into a tournament and feel we have a chance. From a footballing point of view this is all very positive. This will give our young players something to look forward to because since I have been back here I have seen so many players lost to the game.

“I may be driving through town and see a guy hanging out and say to myself ‘that guy was a good player’. But now they are lost to football. Some have been lost to the game through drugs or things like Play Station and now cricket.”

Goater said cricket has grabbed a number of players because those players can see what Bermuda’s cricket team has done making the World Cup.

Right now a national team footballer only sees a game once and while, he said.

“There is a (national team) game maybe every six months. It is tough on the players. When players know there is no game for five or six months they don’t fell like training. You are asking them to commit even though there are no games. That is why sometimes attendances at training are up and down. With this league it will motivate the guys to train. Actually we will demand it because guys will be getting paid. They will want to make that sacrifice.

“Right now football tends to come in last and it is our national and most popular game. We feel that this programme can bring football back up a few levels.”

Asked if he will be playing for Bermuda’s team in the USL, the former Manchester City hitman said: “Well I will be training and I will get myself fit. Everything depends on whether the (administrative) roles are filled sufficiently. It is a case of wait and see but this is really all about giving the (other) players an opportunity. Given the choice of me going on for 20 minutes or a youngster going on, then the youngster has to go on. I am not expecting to do much.”

Goater has also been busy lately with autograph book signings sessions for his Feed The Goat.

Tonight he will do his second signing at the Bermuda Book Store on Queen Street starting at 7.30 p.m.

And the player has also done numerous signing in Manchester, England where he was, and is a hero to many Blues fans.

He said: “Sales have been going very well. I have managed to get more books in the stores in Bermuda (Bermuda Book Store, Brown and Company and People’s Pharmacy).

“I have also made a number of trips to Manchester and that went extremely well. At each location there have been people lining up around the corner to have their book signed. It is amazing considering that I left Manchester City in 2003. At the three or four different venues I have been there have been hundreds of people. I have totally enjoyed going there and meeting the fans and many people I remember.”

Goater was saddened to hear that West Ham manager Alan Pardew was fired this week. It was Pardew who brought the Bermudian striker to Reading before the manager moved on to West Ham.

Goater said: “They fire people so quickly these days. managers are in such an uncertain job.”

Goater said that the boards and fans of various Premiership clubs in England sometimes have unrealistic expectations.

“Because of their history, quite a few clubs believe and feel that they should be among the top six and West Ham are one of those clubs because of their history. I thought Pardew did tremendous last year getting them to the FA Cup final (where they lost to Liverpool in a scorching game) and also finishing in the top 10.”

But he said that many of the clubs in the Premiership cannot compete financially with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.

“These clubs do not have the financial backing to be able to deliver what their fans want. The clubs have good players but not world class players like those at Chelsea. To ask West Ham to sustain what they did last season is asking a lot.”

Of the Argentina stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano who joined West Ham this season, Goater said: “I haven’t seen much of Mascherano but what I have seen of Tevez, especially playing for Argentina, is that he is a quality player. Tevez will suit the English game — he is tough. Some players can go into the environment and settle quickly and others take a little time and it is taking a little time for Tevez.”

Goater has also watched former Manchester City player Shaun Wright-Phillips struggle at Chelsea.

Asked if it was a good move for Wright-Phillips to make, he said: “I believe that if he had stayed at Man City he would have been in the World Cup squad. But I also know that Shaun is similar to myself in that he he would not say it was a bad move. Over the next couple of years he will want to prove that it was a good move.

“I do believe that it will be a great learning experience for him. At City he did not experience any bad things. He developed as a young player, and did very well — better than some may have predicted. He never really had a rough spell to cope with. You learn so much from challenging times and I think he will learn so much from this time at Chelsea over the next year or two. He wants to fight for his place and he wants to prove a lot of people wrong.

“He will quietly go about his business. The best way to answer the critics is to go out there and do it. He will want to prove a point. He will not want to say it was a bad move.”

Goater: We have to give our players a platform to go and showcase their talent