Former national soccer coach Mark Trott has hit back at allegations that he is giving Bermudians who travel to England for trials with professional teams false hopes.

Trott, who has been instrumental in helping a number of players make contact with professional outfits on the other side of the Atlantic, was responding to a thinly veiled attack on him by the Department of Education's PE head, Clinton Smith.

Without naming Trott, Smith said no favours were being done by "setting unrealistic goals'' for Island players.

"You are setting these guys up with dreams and fantasies,'' he alleged, adding: "There's one individual who takes great delight in elevating himself as the big agent for aspiring superstars without doing any kind of research.

It's almost criminal to do what he does -- the Mr Do-Gooder.'' Smith alleged that some of those who didn't achieve their dreams ended up "sitting on the wall, smoking weed, thinking about how they used to be a superstar''.

But Trott hit back saying all he was doing was bringing promising athletes to the attention of clubs overseas through contacts he has made in England over a number of years.

"It really started with Shaun Goater when Manchester United first came to Bermuda. A few of players saw him play in match in which they played and were impressed.

"I wrote a letter out of naivety to Alex Ferguson and asked him would he be interested in looking over a youth international and sent him over a copy of Shaun's status at that time and they agreed to give him a look.

But he added: "I'm definitely not an agent. The BFA would make that very clear to myself, that's just a no-no. The only satisfaction I could ever get out of this is if the individual makes it.'' Trott said he would not recommend anyone whom he did not think had a chance of making the grade, but ultimately whether they succeeded or failed was down to the individual concerned.

And he said he always impressed on the player that the likelihood of achieving professional status was slim and that they should strive for academic success at the same time.

"I particularly stress the educational side of things. The guys need to be doing well academically and one of the good things about the way we do things now is the young player must be enrolled in school by the professional club,'' he said.

"My personal belief is that kids who can use sporting ability to get athletic scholarships should go that route first, but there's always going to be one or two like a Shaun Goater or Kyle Lightbourne, who for whatever reason don't have any real serious school interest outside of high school.

"Those cases are very minimal. Like with Chris Moulder (offered a trial at QPR) I emphasise while this is great opportunity, you have to be realistic -- it may not happen.'' As for Smith's comments alleging those who returned unsuccessful were consigned to the scrap-heap, Trott said this certainly wasn't the case in his experience.

"If you look at a player like Kyle Lightbourne, Kyle went over and initially he didn't make it,'' he said. "He didn't make it at the first club, came back and tried again and was very successful.'' Trott also pointed to the examples of Neil Paynter and Philip Clark, who failed to make the grade in the top flight with Coventry City, but came back to get good jobs on the Island and are still involved in local soccer with St George's and Devonshire Cougars respectively.

And this summer, he helped Vashun Blanchette secure a place at West Ham's youth academy, which also included a scholarship which has enabled the youngster to further his education.

Trott said although not everyone was good enough to become a professional, the experience of trying out meant they picked up tips that could be used to further the game in Bermuda.

"There have been guys like Kenny Thompson, the coach at North Village, he went abroad for trials, Dennis Brown the coach of Wolves went abroad for trials,'' he said. "They pick up a lot of stuff that they can then bring back to the Island.'' While he disagreed with the vast majority of Smith's argument, Trott said there was one point where they saw eye to eye.

"In certain respects his comments are correct. You have to be careful that you just don't send anybody and when you send people you need to really sit them down and prepare them.

But he added: "If you just squash their dreams you are doing them a disservice.

"So long as you tell them the odds of them making it are very slim and they know what they are up against I don't think any kid should be denied the chance of fulfilling a dream.

"If he makes it fine and dandy, if he doesn't you have to make sure he has the tools that will enable him to fall back on something else.'' As for being called a do-gooder, Trott said he wasn't involved in such matters to boost his standing in the community.

"I have never gone out of my way to blow my own trumpet. That is just not my style -- I try to stay out of of the spotlight as much as possible,'' he said, adding: "I just feel that hey if Shaun Goater's made it, it's Shaun Goater's time, sure I may have helped him but at the end of the day it's down to him.

"If someone genuinely has the ability and there's a chance they can make it I don't see why I shouldn't try and help them.'' Mark Trott: `I don't think any kid should be denied the chance of fulfilling a dream.'