BEING a fiercely proud Yorkshireman and a keen follower of cricket, I was delighted that Yorkshire County Cricket Club managed to win the championship.

It has been a long wait, 33-years, and it means us Tykes can now hold our heads up in the cricketing world.

It is a tremendous achievement, particularly when you think they have been without several of their star players - like Darren Gough, Michael Vaughan and Craig White - for most of the summer due to international commitments.

It goes to show the strength in depth they have got now, particularly with the young players coming through.

Bearing this in mind, it could be the start of a period of Yorkshire dominance in county cricket. Let's hope so.

Yorkshire's success has given everyone a lift in the county and put smiles on a lot of people's faces.

As we strive for success here at York City that merely gives us an added incentive to give the fans something else to cheer about.

Yorkshire's success should be an inspiration to us all.

Looking ahead to Saturday night's vital World Cup qualifier, I would just like to wish good luck to the England team as they get ready to take on our fiercest rivals after Scotland, Germany.

If England can pull the victory off it will round off a good few days following Yorkshire's championship success of last week.

It's always nice to see England win but with this being a World Cup qualifier and against Germany victory becomes even more important.

I would argue these days there is not as much interest in international football on a day to day basis as club football.

But on the world stage there is nothing better than seeing your country being the best

And it is important for the domestic game that England qualify for the World Cup. If England do well football at all levels in this country can only benefit.

I am sure most of you will have read in the Evening Press earlier this week about the unprovoked attack on two of the club's young players, Chris Smith and Neville Stamp, last Saturday in the city centre.

We can look after the players as much as possible but they have got lives to lead outside playing football and you cannot wrap them up in cotton wool all the time.

For all that, as a manager you tend to treat the players as your sons and you still want to protect them as much as you can.

We have got a good spirit at the club and everyone is together so when something like this happens it is very upsetting, obviously for the players but also for everyone connected to the club.

They are two lads who have just moved to York relatively recently who were having a quiet night out and are two of the quietest lads you could wish to meet.

York is a lovely, friendly city in which to live and we just hope this will prove to be a one-off incident.

Updated: 12:42 Thursday, August 30, 2001