Shaun Goater can only speculate as to where Bermudian soccer might be now if Andrew Bascome had been handed the job of national coach.

Manchester City striker Goater, who Bascome referred to as being "like a son" when announcing his retirement as boss of Dandy Town Hornets yesterday, believes the 39-year-old had more than enough talent to make a name for himself on the international stage.

Bascome had indicated he would throw his hat into the ring when the national post was up for grabs last year, but he later made a dramatic U-turn, saying he was no longer interested and alleged the Bermuda Football Association was "run like a private club".

"I have got a young family to think about," he said in a Royal Gazette interview at the time. "When you are committed to sport you make big financial sacrifices and as you get older you suffer because of that. I looked at it and thought the post would not be worth making those sacrifices (for)."

Goater, currently sitting on top of the English First Division with City, was coached by Bascome when a young striker at North Village. It was from there that current Premiership champions Manchester United snapped him up and took him to England.

He has never forgotten the part Bascome played in his development and believes the coach's talent has been vastly underused.

"Andrew is football, he epitomises the game," said Goater. "He loves the game, lives the game and is the kind of person that would do anything to both improve his learning of it and to teach others about it.

"I only hope that there is another Andrew out there."

Goater said when Bascome played the game, before injury cut short his on-field involvement, he was the "best player in Bermuda".

"I have been asked and still get asked the question 'who did I look up to?' and I say to people in England 'you don't know him'.

"In my eyes Andrew is as good as (former Liverpool and England player) John Barnes, he was the number one," Goater said.

"It's a shame we never got to see someone like him on the international stage. He did everything to put himself there but for whatever reason he was not chosen or selected."

Mark Trott is the current national coach, but Goater believes that following Clyde Best's departure from the post Bascome would have been the ideal man to "bridge the gap" between that time and maybe a foreign coach coming in at a later date.

"He has gone away and done courses and so forth and within the football community he is one of the most respected people there is," he said.

"If you talk to most people in the football community they say 'I wonder what would have happened if Andrew was the national coach?'.

"The belief is that he could have taken Bermuda to the next level. That is what football is all about - progression and players becoming better than Shaun Goater, David Bascome and Kyle Lightbourne. Within Bermuda he was the one person that could have done that."

North Village stalwarts Wendell (Woolly) Baxter, Ralph (Gumbo) Bean and Wendell (Joe) Trott all added their own tributes to Bascome.

"I took Andrew under my wing when he was about 13-years-old," said Baxter.

"We started practising together to improve his skills and overall vision of the game. One thing that I immediately noticed about him was that he had a serious love for the game, like myself. That made it very easy for me to coach him.

"Right away I knew that he was going to become one of the better players with his passing ability. He was able to pick out a player with pin-point accuracy with basically one or two touches of the ball."

Baxter said when other players would be roaming the streets, Bascome would be down the park practising.

"Andrew was always willing to take notes and keep abreast of the international scene, that's when I realised that he was a student of the game," said Baxter.

"He has been a good friend but more importantly, a great student of the game.

"I personally would like to wish Andrew and his family all the best in their future endeavours."

'Gumbo' Bean said Bascome had football in his blood.

"I can remember the days when he and 'Woolly' would be down the field here and play all day," he said. "It is going to be a loss to football in general when Andrew quits. Everybody knows that the man is very experienced and knowledgeable of the game and his absence will be felt tremendously."

Trott said he believed Bascome still had a lot to offer the game.

"All the clubs that he has been to he has brought forward with his input on the field of play and as a coach," he said.

"I wish him all the best, especially with his son. But it is unfortunate that he is leaving the sport at such a young age. Hopefully he will return one day."