IT HAS been sung by Hampshire's players no fewer than 20 times this season. Hampshire's victory song has been the soundtrack to the county's best season since the move to the Rose Bowl.

And chairman Rod Bransgrove has heard most of the renditions of 'Glory, glory, we are Hampshire' on his mobile phone.

"I wasn't actually there with the boys for the celebratory song on every occasion that we won this year but they would telephone me wherever I was in the world to sing it down the phone to me. I heard it several times in St Lucia. It's a great sound and it's now embodied into Hampshire culture."

Third place in the totesport National League and runners-up spot in the county championship Division 2 make the 2004 season Hampshire's most successful since Bransgrove became chairman four years ago.

"If you'd offered us that at the beginning of the season, we'd have bitten your hands off," said Bransgrove.

"We were very specific about what we wanted to achieve at the start of the season. That was survival in the totesport Division one, promotion to Frizzell Division 1 and the opportunity for some of the young players to impress and I think people like Michael Brown have taken that opportunity.

"We've seen flashes of it from James Adams, Greg Lamb looks very promising and in the game against we've just given Chris Benham his debut so I think we've achieved all the objectives that we set out to do.

"We made a fantastic start, we had a little bit of luck in the middle but, unlike other seasons, we regrouped and came back very strongly for the end.

"With a bit of luck we'd have done even better than we did. Against Derbyshire here at the beginning of the season we were unfortunate not to remove their last batsman and Glamorgan had just two left at the end after we had lost time due to the weather here. But we'll settle for what we've got."

As well as two top-three finishes, Hampshire reached the quarter finals of the Twenty20 Cup and lost a C & G Trophy thriller to eventual winners Gloucestershire.

Of course, the big difference between this year and last, when Hampshire were promoted in the National League but finished second from bottom of the county championship, has been a certain Shane Warne.

For Bransgrove, Warne's captaincy has dovetailed perfectly with Paul Terry's management.

"I knew what Shane would bring to the club alongside a good manager, someone who is thinking slightly longer term, and he and Paul have developed a very good relationship between them.

"In playing affairs, I would imagine that Shane would probably get his own way in terms of team selection but will always listen to Paul's point of view.

"In other affairs, Paul has the casting vote and that's worked very well. They've been well backed up by Patrick Farhart, Bruce Reid, Tony Middleton and others. It's all worked out for us as I hoped it would the previous season before Shane got his unfortunate ban."

He might not have been out on the pitch with the players but Bransgrove still witnessed Warne's influence first hand. "I remember overhearing Warney's dressing room talk when he decided that he was going to set Glamorgan a chase here and I pleaded with him to back the draw!

"I knew he was ignoring me and by the end of the speech I was convinced we were going to win the game - and we very nearly did. It was very exciting, a fantastic scene."

Hampshire are now one of only five counties in the first division of both the championship and the National League. And Bransgrove does not want a repeat of 2002, when the county were relegated in their first season in the top flight.

"We haven't been promoted just to bounce straight back down, now is the time that really counts and it's our job to start pressing for some silverware.

"You can't win championships in the second division and there are very few county clubs, or businesses in our case, who have the opportunity to win the first division of both competitions."

There are sure to be a few changes in personnel next season, when the Ashes will limit the availability of Shane Warne and others.

For starters, Will Kendall will be conspicuous by his absence.

"Wilbur's a top man and it's a shame he's taken the decision he has, he's going to be missed around here. The difference between success and failure in professional sport is minuscule and very difficult to come to terms with but his absence means that one of the major things that will change is that the dressing room reading will go back from the Telegraph to the Daily Sport!"

Kendall, of course, was largely responsible for the lyrics of the victory song.

FOR SIMON WALTER'S INDIVIDUAL RATINGS OF THE HAMPSHIRE PLAYERS THIS SEASON SEE TODAY'S DAILY ECHO.