Reggae Boyz World Cup veteran Paul Hall has no hesitation in naming Rene Simoes as the best coach he has ever worked with.

Simoes, whose name has appeared on Bermuda Football Association's (BFA) list of candidates for the vacant technical director's position, is even ranked above England assistant Terry Venables by his former charge who earned most of his 41 caps under him.

Simoes is currently in charge of Coritiba Foot Ball Club in Brazil's Serie B and has denied applying for the technical director post. However, earlier this week a BFA source was unable to deny that Simoes had been listed as an applicant in a written correspondence obtained by The Royal Gazette.

Former Premiership ace Hall was part of Simoes' history-making Jamaica team that stunned world football by qualifying for France '98, climbing from 96th in FIFA's world rankings to 39th in three years.

In this interview with The Royal Gazette, the ex-Portsmouth and Coventry City winger provides a rare insight into the Brazilian's coaching methods and outlines why he believes Simoes is the perfect candidate to revolutionise Bermuda football.

"To be honest I think he's probably over-qualified to become technical director of Bermuda," says Hall, 37, who currently plays for Kyle Lightbourne's ex-club Walsall in League One. "No disrespect to Bermuda but this man is that good and they're very lucky he's interested.

"He's probably the perfect candidate to take an island like Bermuda forward and I can't speak highly enough of him. He knows how to get the best out of the talent at his disposal and proved what he can do with a small football nation while in charge of Jamaica. He's familiar with that part of the world and plays an attractive style of football suited to Caribbean players.

"During the time I worked with him he improved my game no end and I've no hesitation in saying he's the best coach I've ever worked with, and I've worked with Terry Venables and Brian Little.

"Let's not forget he comes from the land where they play the best football (Brazil) and that's the way he likes to play. I believe he would take Bermuda further than they've ever been and would certainly make people sit up and take notice of Bermudian football."

Prior to Simoes' arrival in 1994 the Reggae Boyz were renowned for enthusiasm but lacked professionalism. The 54-year-old managed to marry the best local talent with high-profile English-based players of Jamaican descent to solve such shortcomings and turn the nation into a footballing force.

Despite criticism at home about the number of English-based Jamaicans selected in his World Cup party such as Wimbledon's Robbie Earle, Derby's Deon Burton and Bolton's Ricardo Gardner, Simoes stood firm and reaped the rewards at the tournament. In the first game they lost to Croatia 3-1, and then to Argentina 5-0, before historically beating Japan 2-1 in the final game of the preliminary round. They may not have qualified for the second stage but the Reggae Boyz enjoyed a heroes' return with Jamaicans the world over rejoicing. It was their first, and to date, only appearance on the world's biggest stage.

The methods which Simoes, a professor in psychology, skillfully used to unite players from many backgrounds and with vastly different bank balances impressed Hall and instantly won the respect of the overseas contingent. "Rene quickly realised although the Jamaican-based players were naturally gifted they probably lacked discipline," says Hall who received his international call-up in 1996.

"He knew the impact the English-based players would have on the rest of the squad. We were coming from professional leagues and had a different mentality - football was our livelihoods. Rene managed to marry the two together perfectly and I think the English-based players helped the team no end.

"His man management skills are second to none. It's funny but whenever he brought one of the English players into the squad he would gather all the players and give a speech.

"Whether it was Robbie Earle, Deon Burton, Frank Sinclair, or whoever, he would tell you that you were with 'us' or not with 'us'. It wouldn't have mattered if he had brought in Pele, his style would have been the same.

"He made it clear straight away that the English-based players would need to integrate themselves into the Jamaican way. He told us we would have to live like the rest of the players and not expect the big hotels we were used to in England.

"I think some of local players probably thought 'here comes all these foreigners', but they saw the way he grounded us immediately and from that point it was all hands to the pump together. He didn't mind disciplining players either and I saw him dress down one player who went against what he wanted.

"He was undoubtedly the driving force behind us qualifying for World Cup '98 and he installed belief and expectation that we could get a result against anyone, whether the USA or Brazil. We expected to get something out of every game and although Jamaica probably have better players now I don't think they have that mentality anymore."