Clyde Best, arguably the greatest footballer Bermuda has ever produced, has been made an MBE in the Queen?s New Year?s Honours List.

Mr. Best, 54, is the third Bermudian to be handed the award for services to football, with former Manchester City striker Shaun Goater and US indoor soccer star David Bascome being recognised last year.

Speaking to yesterday, Mr. Best said: ?I?m thrilled about it. It?s always nice to have your achievements recognised along with all the other people who have made a contribution to the game and it will obviously be a real honour making the trip over to London to receive it with my family.?

Mr. Best left the Island in 1968 as a talented 17 year old to join the ranks of London club West Ham United.

He made his debut the following year against city rivals Arsenal and went on to make 186 appearances and score 47 goals for the club while playing alongside English superstars such as Sir Bobby Moore and Sir Geoff Hurst.

But aside from his football talent, Mr. Best is credited with blazing a trail for black players in English football at a time when racism was endemic on the terraces up and down the land. He was one of the first and certainly one of the most high-profile black players to enter English football?s top-flight in the post Second World War era.

Overall his career spanned 13 years and two continents, including spells at various clubs in North America and a season with top Dutch side Feyenoord.

Perhaps his most memorable feat in the twilight of his career was scoring a hat-trick for the Tampa Bay Rowdies against the New York Cosmos, who boasted among their ranks none other than the legendary Pele, universally regarded as the best footballer of all time. Mr. Best retired in 1982, but not before embarking on a controversial football tour of apartheid South Africa, after which he was to suffer the cruel irony of being blacklisted by the United Nations for over five years.

Mr. Best received his first international cap for Bermuda at the tender age of 15.

He went on to coach the national side between 1997 and 1999, before falling out spectacularly with then Bermuda Football Association president Neville Tyrrell when his contract was not renewed right in the middle of Bermuda?s World Cup qualifying campaign. He now works with inmates at Westgate Correctional Facility and spent a brief period as assistant coach of local league team Ireland Rangers.