SHAUN Goater is facing perhaps the biggest challenge of his football career but the former City hero is warming to the task.

Goater is trying to raise the standard of football in his Bermuda homeland, no easy task considering that the island didn't even have a pro team when he went back in 2006.

But with his friend Kyle Lightbourne, the former Macclesfield striker, Goater founded the Bermuda Hogges in September last year.

They play in the United Soccer League's Second Division, only two rungs below the glamour of Major League Soccer, LA Galaxy and David Beckham, but a world away in terms of ambition.

Goater sees his new test, nominally as a director but also as a player in emergencies, as a long-term project.

He said: "We're having to educate them to be professionals, and it's been a challenge. But it's an exciting time.

"As far as we're concerned, this is a long-term project. We hope that sometime in the next five to eight years, we might be managing the Bermuda Hogges at the top level in America."

The Hogges had a tough first season in the US soccer pyramid, finishing bottom of their 10-team league. And Goater was called on to help out on the pitch, too.

"I do feel as though the standard in Bermuda has gone backwards while I've been away. But the Bermudan Government has given me money to develop grass roots football, so things are moving in the right direction,"he added.

But Goater is used to a challenge and, as any City fan will tell you, he has helped a team from the third tier to the top flight before.

Folklore

The 37-year-old secured his place in folklore during five-and-a-bit memorable years at Maine Road which brought three promotions and two relegations.

And he will return to the club - but not the ground - where he became a legend when he features for a Rest of the World side in a charity match at the City of Manchester Stadium to mark the PFA's centenary on Sunday, December 2.

The Rest of the World team, coached by City boss Sven- Goran Eriksson and led by Gianfranco Zola, will take on an England legends side managed by Terry Venables and led by Alan Shearer.

It is a match that has been organised by the players' union in aid of the One Goal, One Million campaign which aims to raise £1m for a rehabilitation and physiotherapy unit at a new children's hospital in Manchester. And Goater can be assured of a warm reception.

He said: "I had five years at City, doing what I enjoy, playing football. It's always nice to be received in such a warm way. It really gives me a warm feeling."

Yet it's easy to forget that Goater actually had a very rocky start to life with the Blues after Joe Royle paid Bristol City £400,000 for him in March 1998.

The striker left behind a Robins side on course to win promotion from Division Two for a team about to head in the opposite direction.

Goater said: "Bristol City were challenging for promotion, and City were struggling. But I looked at the crowds, and City were getting 29,000 even though the team were performing poorly. And Bristol City we were getting 18,000 for a top-of-the-table clash.

"Manchester City are seen as a big, big team around the world. But the strange thing was that I left a team full of confidence and joined a team with no confidence.

"So I walked into Manchester City and my chest was out, but the other players' shoulders were down. It was a completely different atmosphere, and it zapped my confidence within 10 days. But I got to learn a lot about myself. I didn't go there thinking I would become a legend.

Incredible

"I just hoped that people would look back on my time at City and say: `Shaun was a striker and he did well.'

"That one season in the third tier, 1998-99, ended with that incredible play-off victory over Gillingham at Wembley."

But Goater remembers just what it slog it was to get there, saying: "Every team that played us treated it as their cup final."

City just about made it back up to Division One that season, with Goater maintaining that his blocked shot which set up Paul Dickov for a last-gasp goal against Gillingham was actually an assist.

And there was, of course, another promotion the following season, sealed on the final day in nail-biting style at Blackburn.

Goater said: "City won 4-1, but relegation followed in an injury-hit season for Goater and Joe Royle was sacked the following summer."

Goater's relationship with Kevin Keegan was never quite as smooth, but it didn't blunt the striker's professionalism, and it didn't stop him from scoring two derby goals against United before leaving in 2003 for Reading, then Coventry, then Southend, then Bermuda.

But Goater's love of City has never dimmed, nor the fans' love for him. And he is delighted to see the club's resurgence under Eriksson.

THE PFA Centenary match will take place at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday, December 2.

Tickets are £10 for adults, £5 for under-16s. One under-16 gets in free with every two adults paying full price. Call 0870 062 1894.

What are you favourite Goater memories? Have your say.