Burkhard Ziese's tempestuous, never-a-dull-moment era in Bermuda soccer came to a screeching halt on Monday morning.

The Bermuda Football Association's outspoken Technical Director of Coaching, given the arduous task of breathing new life into soccer programmes ranging from the mini-minor level to national teams just a scant 13 months ago, was officially notified of his abrupt dismissal in a letter two days after returning from a Christmas holiday in his native Germany.

Ziese -- shocked by the firing -- was given the grim news during a meeting at BFA headquarters on the same day the "new-look'' Under-23 team he helped guide to a berth in the Pan American Games was unveiled.

BFA officials refused to confirm the firing yesterday and were not planning to formally announce that the German-born Ziese, hired in November, 1993, was officially let go. A BFA receptionist, however, informed callers that "Mr.

Ziese no longer is employed with the BFA.'' "No such (comment) will take place,'' BFA secretary general David Sabir said last night, taking an approach that has been common during the past few weeks.

"The BFA is reserving this matter as internal and we will not be having any comments on anything specific to BFA activities until after the Board of Inquiry.'' Later he added: "If you want to talk to me about Friendship (Trophy) or the Under-23 team that's fine, but anything else I'm restricted in my comments.'' Ziese, contacted at his home, was reluctant to speak about the matter, which now appears to be headed for the courts.

"I have nothing to say in this regard,'' Ziese, sounding tired, said. "My legal advisor is Allan Dunch and we have an agreement that I will not speak.'' He has acquired the services of the well-known attorney, a senior litigation partner at Appleby, Spurling & Kempe. Dunch revealed that Ziese was taken completely off guard by the BFA move.

"As a result of receiving that letter which came completely out of the blue as far as he was concerned, he sought advice from myself late (Monday) afternoon,'' Dunch said yesterday.

Dunch added the note "suggested that he has somehow breached his duty of faith to the BFA by virtue of unspecified things he has alleged to have said and or done. The letter is noticeably devoid of any particulars whatsoever and on its face gives no indication at all as to the basis upon which the BFA reached (its) conclusion.'' He added: "Having reviewed the facts and documents that (Ziese) has been able to present me with to date I have concluded that the BFA had no right at all to terminate the agreement and as a consequence I will be formally advising (them) as soon as practicable that I regard them as being in breach of their contract with Mr. Ziese. I will be inviting them to provide me with an indication as to how they intend to deal with any damages that will obviously follow.'' Ziese, who entered into the second year of his three-year contract on New Year's Eve, was apparently offered no cash settlement by the BFA.

"I am unaware of any indication on the part of the BFA that they are prepared to remunerate him for their breach of contract,'' said Dunch.

Dunch revealed that Ziese was "extremely disappointed and upset. One can only have sympathy with him in this regard, bearing in mind all that he appears to have tried to do for the good of the BFA and football in Bermuda.'' Also, according to Dunch, Ziese will "stay in Bermuda for as long as it takes to obtain a satisfactory resolution for the breach of contact by the BFA.'' Lured to Bermuda with a glittering resume which included coaching stints around the globe, Ziese's crowning achievement was the Under-23s success in reaching the Pan-Am finals.

The 50-year-old never backed away from saying what was on his mind and sometimes rubbed people the wrong way. Despite the gruff exterior, however, he earned the grudging admiration of many in local soccer circles.

His latest skirmish with the BFA came in the aftermath of the arrests of seven Under-23 players when memos he wrote to his employers and to CONCACAF president Jack Warner were eventually made public, painting a picture of a man frustrated in his job.

Warner, when contacted last night from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he is attending the Inter-Continental Cup, said he would get in touch with Ziese today. A month ago he said Ziese showed courage in blowing the whistle on drug use with the Under-23s and vowed that CONCACAF would find him a job if he could no longer work in Bermuda.

In memos Ziese dispatched while the team was training for qualifying matches against Canada, Ziese revealed that "five to seven players are smoking marijuana since our arrival in Kingston. I believe it is high time to make a clear and stern decision in this regard.'' In the letter to Warner on December 15 Ziese pointed out how his warnings were ignored and went as far to say that "you will understand that I will have great mental problems to continue with such an incompetent association.'' BFA officials have steadfastly refused to comment on the letters.

In an interview with The Royal Gazette while he was vacationing in Germany, Ziese said that despite the low points, 1994 was a satisfying year for him.

"I'm not saying they were the happiest, definitely not,'' Ziese said. "I had good job satisfaction in the last three months, with ups and downs here and there. But in the last 12 months I was able to achieve more than a lot of people expected.'' In the same interview he called for "all those employed by the BFA'' to be drug tested. "All those who sit on the bench, all those who teach the youngsters and all the referees. Do you think we can have a clean game if everyone who is part of the game will not be drug tested?'' Ziese's problems began only three months into his job when he started a brush fire of controversy after Village goalkeeper Dwayne Adams was banned for missing national team training sessions.

Village coach Robert Calderon sparred with Ziese at that time and on a few other occasions.

Calderon said yesterday that Ziese could have been a "tremendous asset'' for Island soccer.

"It's a shame that there was obviously a lot of ill feelings between him and many people.

"I think Burkhard never made the adjustment from working in different countries to working in Bermuda and that was unfortunate.

"But my conversations with certain people who were exposed to him was always positive. Unfortunately his circle of friends in Bermuda was far too small and he needed to extend himself to a lot more people.'' The public got its first glimpse of a frustrated Ziese in April when he informed Hamilton Rotarians during a speech that he asked for his three-year contract to be revised.

He startled his audience by admitting that things were not going smoothly for him during his first three months with the BFA.

Charlie Marshall -- at the helm of the BFA when Ziese was hired -- said yesterday he was disappointed by the firing.

"He brought to the forefront a lot of the issues that many of us involved in football were aware of, but were not prepared to address,'' he said. "In his professional capacity he was brought here to make us aware of things and for us to do something about it. Getting rid of him is not going to solve the issues in Association football.'' Marshall said Ziese had still been able to make a significant contribution in his limited time on the job.

"I think it was his direct involvement that was the success, if you want to regard it as a success, in Jamaica.

"I just feel sorry because the purpose of bringing Mr. Ziese here was to upgrade and grade our coaches and to make sure that we set a standard not only in coaching soccer, but also linking soccer with education. But he was never really allowed to do his job.'' Concerning the watchful eye kept on Ziese by Warner, one backlash from the firing could be Bermuda's ability to hire overseas coaches in the future.

"That, of course, is one of the problems,'' said Marshall. "If they have dismissed him it's sending a very poor signal. I mean Bermuda already has been tarnished with an association that is very questionable in the way it deals with things, and this is rather sad.'' Marshall said that it was inevitable Ziese would leave Bermuda.

"I don't see how he could do his job... constantly fighting the members of the executive committee and the football fraternity.

"Personally there's a lot of things he said and did I wasn't in favour of either. But at the end of the day you listened to what he was saying, you listened to the message and you made changes.'' Former First Division coach and BFA youth committee member John Beard also expressed disappointment in the dismissal.

"I'm just disappointed that we're going to lose somebody of his calibre,'' said Beard. "The way he was going about things might not have been the right way as far as a lot of people were concerned, but things were changing.

"Not to take anything away from Mark Trott, Burkhard obviously made a significant contribution in the success of the Under-23s,'' he added. "The Canadians were surprised at the organisation of the team...they were used to the players being individually good. But they were surprised at how much the organisation had improved.

"Anybody who's been on his coaching courses could attest to his ability and his knowledge.'' Under-23 coach Trott -- like other BFA officials -- was silent on the matter, but did admit he spoke to Ziese late on Monday.

"I'm reserving my total comment until I have my say with the Board of Inquiry,'' he said.

BURKHARD ZIESE -- The BFA's controversial Technical Director of Coaching was fired on Monday.