KNIGHTS chairman Roger Dixon was able to bang on about the Knights last week - literally.

The amiable fan-turned-chief was given a new drum as a birthday present ahead of the Doncaster match, and he put it to full use in the Popular Stand during the game.

Whether he got the idea to get a drum at Sheffield the week before - when some Knights fans jokingly suggested "permanently borrowing" the one used by Eagles fans - is not known.

Either way, he announced it as one of his favourite-ever presents and pledged to drum up support as best he could. Hopefully the ears in the Dixon household will be able to put up with this.

Meanwhile, the Knights players also provided him with excellent presents for his birthday - the victory at Sheffield and the victory over Doncaster.

STAYING with Roger Dixon, the Evening Press overheard the Knights supremo make a hair-raising pledge following that victory over Doncaster.

Dixon - who claimed he was banned from the players' changing room because, according to player-coach Paul Broadbent, his hair was far too long - stated that if the Knights eventually won promotion, he would get it cut. And how.

"I intend to get a grade one if we get promoted," he promised. "However, I will hold onto my moustache."

(Sorry for putting your pledge in the paper, Roger, but lots of people heard you say it.)

Selby official Ian Williams had his Huntington Stadium farewell last week before heading off for a new life Down Under.

Williams, who in the late 1990s moved up through the refereeing ranks of the Academy, Alliance and old First Division to become the youngest touch judge in Super League, ran the line during York's defeat of Doncaster. Indeed, it was on his advice that referee Ben Thaler sent off Dragons full-back Chris Ross for punching Mark Cain.

It will be his last match in York, though, as the Evening Press has been told that Williams, a pit deputy at Selby mine, has got a new job in Australia, doing similar work in Brisbane.

Updated: 10:25 Saturday, March 22, 2003