Mark Trott has been chosen to herald a new dawn in Bermudian football.

Trott was named national coach by Bermuda Football Association last night, with David Furbert, head coach at First Division Prospect United, becoming his assistant.

As revealed by The Royal Gazette yesterday, Trott, a former assistant national coach, was the clear front-runner for the job after his main rival, Andrew Bascome, decided not to apply.

"I have worked with the Under-20s and Under-23s for the past four or five years and I find this a natural progression. It's the next step and hopefully I'll be able to do a good job,'' he said.

Trott said he believed he had a wealth of knowledge to bring to the post.

"I have been on the programme for a long time. I have acquired a lot of experience and I think one of the assets I have is that many of the players I have already coached at the younger level.

"There are a few things that I am going to do different, together with David, that I think they will be excited about.'' He believed, given time, Bermuda could be a footballing force in the area.

"It would be nice to first of all qualify for something like the CopaCarib and then eventually win the Copa Carib and then steadily progress to be in a position to qualify from the CONCACAF region,'' he said. "That is going to take a lot of work to get to that particular level but I think that trying to qualify for Copa Carib and eventually winning that is a very realistic goal.

We have some things to shoot for and that's good.'' Furbert, meanwhile, said he was aware of the scale of the task at hand.

"There is a lot of work to be done,'' he said. "I don't think the average person recognises the magnitude of the amount of work that needs to be done. I just feel that it is time for the people who have complained previously about the programme to help out as best they can.'' Successful applicants for various other national coaching roles, all of which carry one-year contracts, were also announced by the BFA.

Vance Brown will take charge of the women's team, while Wolves coach Dennis Brown and Devonshire Colts boss, Ray Jones, take over the Under-18s.

Kenny Thompson, whose Under-17s performed so admirably during the recent World Cup qualifiers, heads up the Under-15 team, while Josef Gooden and Shannon Morrisey, both associated with Somerset, inherit the Under-13s.

Beard, who has the title Coach of Education and Development, said of the appointments: "They are all well qualified coaches with considerable experience in coaching at all levels. They have considerable respect in the coaching community and we expect they will work together to produce an excellent platform for us all to come together to develop football in Bermuda.'' He said all had passed the required drug test and added: "It is vital that everyone sees, as these young men have, the importance of being part of the solution as opposed to being part of the problem. We hope that others will in the near future look to join this group.'' Kenny Thompson's Under-15s will be the first to see action when they play two training games against a visiting team from New England next weekend.