Son of the soil Leroy (Nibs) Lewis could very well be heading back to Hamilton Parish as the Premier League-bound Hot Peppers seek to reinforce their ranks ahead of next season.

Fast putting aside last Sunday's crushing 5-0 First Division Shield loss to Southampton Rangers, Parish are now looking ahead to greener pastures.

And they are pinning their hopes on Lewis, one of the Island's most decorated coaches, to get them there.

Lewis previously coached at the Crawl Hill club in 1962 shortly after returning from overseas trials with English club Fulham and talks between the veteran coach and Parish club officials are said to be ongoing.

When contacted by TheRoyal Gazette yesterday, Lewis confirmed the rumours.

"They have asked me to do the job," he said. "Actually, they have been asking me for some time now. I could have coached them last season because I was born down in Bailey's Bay and coached Parish years ago (1962-63) when they first came into the league. I had just returned from trials at Fulham and I believe that I was their first coach."

Lewis singled out former North Village and Bermuda international defender Larry Smith and Shelton Furbert as two key players he nurtured while at Parish during the 60s.

"Those guys came up under me," added Lewis, who during that time was also actively playing at PHC - a club he would eventually spend over 20 years involved with as a player, coach and administrator.

The long-serving PHC official helped to establish Zebras as a leading force both as a player and coach during an illustrious career that saw the Warwick-based club win every domestic title and advance into the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champion of Champions Club tournament in 1985-86. He retired from coaching at PHC in 1995-96.

"I used to be their (Parish) coach but I was still playing at PHC," added Lewis. "And then I received a lot of pressure from PHC so I had to give it up."

Though he prefers to see someone younger at the helm of Parish, Lewis said that he was prepared to step in and offer some of his vast football experience in the possible role of assistant coach or even as coach of one of the club's youth teams. Neil (Diamond) Robinson is Pepper's current senior coach.

"If I do come back to coach I would like to be an assistant or possibly a junior coach," Lewis said. "I have been telling them to get a younger person to coach.

"And really I would like to coach at the junior level because I think that a lot of coaches put far too much pressure on the youngsters to win at a very young age.

"At a certain age you are supposed to allow the players to enjoy the game and then when they reach around ten or 11-years-old, then you go into tactics and other things like that."

Contacted yesterday a Parish spokesman said: "The club is now at a very critical point in terms of our football.

"We had a solid youth programme that slipped back a bit last season and to see our senior team come up short was also a bitter disappointment.

"So to have someone of Lewis' calibre come onboard would certainly be a major enhancement for both the club and the entire community."