the season when his two-year contract expires and he becomes a free agent under the so-called Bosman ruling.

But the top scoring striker believes promotion-chasing City may unload him before then so as to command a hefty transfer fee.

Timing will be of the utmost importance for City who are relying on Goater's goals to assure promotion back to the First Division.

If he stays until the end of the season, while the club might win promotion, they may not be able to recoup any of the 175,000 they paid Rotherham two years ago as Goater could move on a free transfer.

The fact that Goater has turned down new contract offers could force the club to sell him before the end of the season. Goater says he has been careful not to sign a new contract now just in case the team doesn't gain promotion. At 27 he remains anxious to play at a higher level in England.

"The club have been good to me, it (Bristol area) is so similar to Bermuda, the fans are brilliant and I would love to be here at the end of the season, so that whatever happens I would at least have the opportunity of going up with Bristol City,'' said Goater yesterday.

"On the other hand the club would know that I would be entitled to a `free', so they will try to get rid of me to try to get some money, as a business thing.'' If Goater can match his 25 goals last season, then buying him for only 175,000 and getting more than 50 goals -- and possibly promotion in the process -- should make the club delighted with their investment. He would be one of the bargains in the lower divisions and clubs would almost certainly come hunting for the out-of-contract player.

"To replace me they would have to buy somebody who costs 400,000 or 500,000 plus their salary, which makes you think why don't they just say `Ok Shawn, whatever you want, here you go'.

Goater insists the new contract is not just about money.

"To be honest what they have offered me is very attractive but if I were to sign for what they are offering me I would still be thinking in the back of my mind that I could have possibly gone to a really good First Division team.'' Goater has been scoring goals consistently over the last four seasons with his two goals against Carlisle recently taking his tally since 1993-94 to exactly 100. Since '93-94, which followed a good World Cup campaign with Bermuda, Goater has scored 13, 25, 24, 25 and now 13. At this stage last season he had 11 goals while the previous December he had 17 before only managing seven more in the second half of that season.

"After that season people used to say, `yeah, but when it gets cold he goes missing' and when I looked at all my statistics it seemed to say `January, February, two or three goals in two months' and for the past two seasons I was conscious of that.'' City have risen to second in the standings in the last couple of months when they have won eight league matches in a row. They presently trail Second Division leaders Watford by four points and are 11 points ahead of Oldham in third spot. The top two teams gain automatic promotion and being eliminated from the FA Cup last Sunday means that they can now concentrate solely on getting promoted.

City are facing a crucial month, playing away to Watford this Saturday in a clash between the top scorers in the division, before taking on fourth and fifth placed Chesterfield and Millwall at home.

Goater thinks the club have the potential to compete with the top teams in the First Division next season. They are bigger than many of the clubs in that division.

"It would need buying quality players next year and not expecting Shawn Goater to be their number one striker,'' said Goater. "They would need to buy somebody who is experienced in the higher divisions.'' Goater was featured in a recent article in British magazine Four-Four-Two when he appeared in a story along with Jamaica's Dion Burton of Derby and Brentford's Gus Hurdle who has family in Barbados. It was an article about Island players.

Total Football had also approached the former Manchester United player about an interview.