Preston North End will today launch a last ditch attempt to secure a work permit for Bermudian soccer international Stephen Astwood.

The English First Division side had offered Astwood a one year professional contract, with the possibility of a 12 month extension, after he impressed them during trials.

But the deal hinges on Astwood getting a permit and his agent, Barry McIntosh, said yesterday he was not hopeful.

While Astwood has played the required 75 percent of international matches for Bermuda, the Island is outside the top 70 soccer nations ranked by FIFA, and as such he does not fit the criteria for non-European Union players.

Astwood's first application was rejected on these grounds and today an appeal over the decision is to be heard at the offices of the Department for Education and Employment in London.

McIntosh said: "The application was declined the first time because the player's country does not satisfy the top 70 ranking criteria.

"The club is standing by the player -- they believe he is good enough to make the grade here, and on that basis they are going all out, travelling more than 300 miles to London, to put their case for him.'' McIntosh has penned a letter on behalf of Astwood which Preston officials will place before the appeal hearing.

In it he writes: "Steven Astwood is a very good player who is expected to rise to the level of football that Clyde Best, who played over 200 league games for West Ham, and now Shaun Goater of Manchester City has.

"Steven is an individual who despite limited resources available on a small island such as Bermuda has put a great deal of effort into working on his skills and technical ability.

"His potential was witnessed by the coaching staff of Preston North End during a trial period at the club and the player has attracted a lot of interest from other clubs including Leeds, Luton and Watford.

"More importantly the manager of Preston, David Moyes, has been sufficiently impressed by the player's ability and attitude to offer him a deal.'' McIntosh goes on to say he believes the ranking procedure is not a good way of sorting out which players should and should not get permits, because it is primarily based on the number of games each nation plays.

"A player of very limited ability could actually have a better chance of getting a work permit in England, even though he is inferior, simply because his country plays hundreds of games unlike Bermuda,'' he writes.

"The club (Preston) would not be interested in putting in the effort of even making an appeal and more importantly offering him a contract if they didn't think he was of immense talent.'' In view of the fact that Bermuda was a British territory, McIntosh said he believed the Government should look kindly upon the application.

"The island of Bermuda gives concessions to English people coming to work in Bermuda in acknowledgement of the fact that the two are related. Why then should an employee, in this case a footballer, not be given the chance to work in his mother country?,'' McIntosh argues.

McIntosh said many players from Surinam, a Dutch dependency, had gone on to play for Holland because the Dutch thought of that island as their own. "Why therefore should England turn her back on her son in a time of need? Like Clyde Best, Steven Astwood has the potential to be of significant value to the English league and enhance its reputation worldwide as one of the best leagues in the world. There is no reason why the player should not be given the chance to prove this,'' he said.

McIntosh concludes: "Are we saying George Weah of Liberia and Ryan Giggs of Wales are not good enough individuals because there respective countries are outside the top 70 in the world? Surely this is a fallacy.

"The player is a prolific talent and goalscorer who has represented Bermuda at all levels from the age of 12 and I beg of the panel to overturn the decision not to grant a work permit.'' If things did not go Astwood's way, McIntosh said he believed the Government of Bermuda should step in.

"Political pressure should be brought to bear to say that this is really not right,'' McIntosh said, adding he was aware talks had been held between England and the Island.

Meanwhile Neville Tyrrell, President of Bermuda Football Association, said the matter of players going for trials in the UK had been discussed in the hope of averting problems like Astwood's.

"We have discussed the matter and are coming up with some guidelines and procedures that we will advise the clubs of,'' he said. "We know there are people out there who may not know the right process and we want to set them on notice that anything of this nature needs to come through the BFA so that we can assist.'' Tyrrell said the BFA wanted to be told immediately anyone was offered trials in the UK.

"We want to be included in the picture early on and not late on in the game,'' he said. "It's just a question of somebody contacting us and letting us know what their intentions are in regards to a player going for trials and the necessary guidelines to follow would be passed on.'' Stephen Astwood: an appeal against his work permit refusal will be heard today.