Since the days he tore local defences to shreds and went on to torment teams in the English First Division as a member of star-studded West Ham, Bermuda's Director of Coaching, Clyde Best, has witnessed a decline in the standard of Island play.

And now he's prepared to put all of his energy into restoring what has been lost.

But Best concedes it's a big job -- one too great to combat alone. And that's why he's calling on all of Bermuda to give their assistance as he attempts to initiate a number of new programmes.

After nine months on the job, the former Bermuda international and Somerset Trojans striker has had time to evaluate the local scene. And he's not very impressed.

"There is so much that has gone on in the last 30 years since I have been here and played soccer, and we have to find a way of getting it back to some sort of respectability,'' said Best this week.

"All around I would like to see changes in the game. It's very important. If you look at the gates around Bermuda compared to my day when they were flourishing, they are disappointing.

"I really believe that's because we were playing attractive soccer back then, and now we are not. At the end of the day that's what it's all about. You have got to give people something that they want to come to watch. For that reason players have to become more accountable for their performance, they must be willing to work much harder and give the paying customer entertainment.

"But I think it can be fixed if we all work together and work for the same cause.'' Despite taking a break from national team training over the last few months due to a lack of international commitments, Best has not remained idle.

In addition to making his regular rounds of weekend and midweek matches, he has been watching school games, talking with coaches at school and club level, and working feverishly in his own little office at BFA headquarters in Hamilton, mostly on paper work aimed towards developing programmes for the New Year.

Best hopes such programmes, when implemented, will carry Bermuda soccer into the next millennium with a new look and hopefully a higher standard.

While concerned about the game's decline in recent years, Best remains optimistic and still envisions a successful national team.

"What we must understand is that there is no magic formula out there to improve soccer,'' he says. "Hard work is one of the formulas. To get anything out of life you have to put something in.'' But he reiterates that the whole community must make a contribution, citing Jamaica's historic achievement of making the World Cup finals as success that came about as a result of national pride.

"When you hear people commenting on how well Jamaica have done, we here have to understand what really has gone on down in Jamaica, from a financial point of view and from a country point of view where everybody is sticking together.

"It's a place where they are getting money from big companies, where players are being sponsored by companies ... if we can create the same environment here, we can do the same thing.

"I think so much can be implemented to improve things here, especially at club level. When you go around to clubs and see the way young people are behaving . .. I think people have to understand that if you are playing a sport you have to conduct yourself in the right way. You can't be a role model for others by cursing and misbehaving when the referee makes a call you disagree with.

"People have to understand that when you play sport, it's a privilege not a right. And you have to conduct yourself and act accordingly because there are people looking at you as a role model.'' One of Best's goals is to implement a sound development programme early in the New Year with a School of Excellence set to get if off the ground.

Tentative plans are to involve players in the Under-12 age group and the scheme will feature clinics at four different school locations throughout the Island, in Somerset, Warwick, Hamilton and St. George's's. Further details will be announced shortly by the BFA.

"This way the kids will be able to get proper instructions on how to play this game which is supposed to be fun,'' adds Best. "If we want to have soccer here for a long time going in the right direction, I think it is important that we start developing players at an early age.

"As I have said in the past when you build a house you never start from the roof, you always start from the foundation. Why should soccer be any other way. And this way it's going to be a lot better for us because the kids are going to come into programmes already aware of the basics.''