Kenny Thompson took up the reins as Bermuda's national soccer coach and declared he was in it for the long haul.

Thompson replaced Gary Darrell at the helm at the end of last week after Darrell resigned just over a year into the job.

Bermuda Football Association president, Larry Mussenden, told The Royal Gazetteon Tuesday that Darrell was asked about his plans to lead the team into next year's qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup but said he “had some other things that he was concentrating on” and wanted to call it quits.

Now Thompson, the BFA's current Director of Youth Development, has taken on the task and has immediately got down to business.

Building on the foundations laid by his predecessor, he has called up a training squad and intends to put them through their paces in a matter of days.

While his remit is simply to take the team to the end of the regional qualifiers which begin in February, Thompson, while not wanting to second guess his employers, says he would like to hold the post for some time to come.

“It's something that we have not discussed in detail,” he said. “Naturally, I would like to move the team and the programme forward beyond the World Cup qualifiers because looking long-term the things that are required and the level that we would like to be at will not happen immediately.

“So, yes, I would very much like to be a part long-term but that is out of my hands. I will just do the best job possible in the timeframe that I have at this time.”

Thompson, who expressed surprise but great pride in his appointment, said he believed one of the main ingredients for getting the Island on the path to success was continuity, something he said that had been lacking in the past.

“One of the pitfalls of our programme in the past has been that it was very stop-start,” he said. “We get eliminated from a competition and then the whole programme shuts down. Then we enter a competition and say ‘Oh, let's get a group of players together and start it up again'.

“In my opinion, that is not a programme and it's something that we are working towards fixing.”

Thompson's squad, the names of which, though circulated to their respective clubs, the BFA is withholding, is due to meet up this week.

“We have a meeting with the players that have been selected to outline the programme and to outline the commitment needed from them and to listen to the concerns or otherwise that they have,” said Thompson. “We will be doing a physical test on the players in aerobic endurance, in speed endurance, starting speed and body composition and we are looking to be on the field on Saturday.”

As for the make-up of the squad, Thompson said he believed it to be representative of the make-up of the BFA although not all clubs had players involved.

“What we are trying to do is to continue along the lines that Gary was working on, to put together a group that, in its nucleus, can perform in two World Cup campaigns,” he said.

“We are talking of a mixture of young players with some experienced players in very important positions. The idea is to put together a team that can compete well in the current World Cup campaign but with that not being the ‘be all and end all'.”

Thompson did not rule out approaching the likes of Bermudian professionals Shaun Goater, who plies his trade with English First Division side Reading and David Bascome, of Major Indoor Soccer's Baltimore Blast, being given a call-up. However, he said he was not going to be relying on their involvement.

“At this time the concentration is on the home-based players,” he said. “We will look at the options of some of the foreign-based players as time goes on. But it's important that we do not place our eggs in that basket, so to speak, because we know from the past that (if we rely) on some of the foreign-based players and then that doesn't materialise for whatever reason then we (won't have) fully prepared the players that are here in Bermuda.

“I have every confidence in the players that we have in Bermuda and we will commit to those first.”

The BFA revealed last month that it was hoped that a foreign club side would be brought in over the Christmas holidays and Thompson said that would be his squad's first real test.

“Hopefully, and this is out of my hands so to speak, we are looking at over the holiday period getting a team in and those will be their first official matches,” he said. “In the meantime, I will put together a schedule of matches against local opposition.”

Commitment, or the lack of, is an oft-used word in Bermudian sporting circles, but Thompson believes he can put together a team that believes in the programme he sets out and will work hard to live up to it.

“I believe that we will be able to put together a squad of players that are committed,” he said. “Naturally, it will be of what I feel are the best players currently. We would like to have them in and, certainly, if those players are not committed we will have to keep selecting players until we get those that are committed to attending the training sessions on a regular basis and do all the things that are required under the guidelines of the Bermuda Football Association.

“I have confidence that the players will rise to the challenge, that they will be committed, that they will come with expectations, that their expectations will be met and that together we can put together a very good programme.”