NICK Holmes has acclaimed "the voice" that has bawled and yelled Salisbury City into the Conference South next season.

As Whites prepare to pick up the Southern Premier championship trophy at home to Cheshunt tomorrow, boss Holmes - the quiet member of the Salisbury management team - is praising the day he brought vocal ex-Saints midfielder Tommy Widdrington on board.

It was a bold move by Whites to entice Widdrington out of the Football League late last season and appoint him as full-time player-coach.

If it was seen as a gamble by some, then it has paid off handsomely with Widdrington playing a key role in transforming a struggling Ryman Premier outfit into pedigree Southern League champions.

"I've probably smiled more this week than I have all season," beamed Holmes. "We've achieved all this because we're a team.

"We've got no prima donnas, no attitude, just a winning mode of thinking which has grown this season, firstly because we've got Tommy and, secondly, because Tommy's presence has been rubbing off on the other players.

"If you look at Aaron Cook (Salisbury skipper), he's a leader now, whereas he wasn't 12 months ago. He's taken on that mantle and I can see him replacing Tom in a couple of years.

"We got Tom in to give us a voice and organise us on the park and we've now become the best organised side in the league.

"Tom's done the first part of what we asked him to do and the next part is to take us up another level."

Not everybody appreciates Widdrington's dulcet Geordie tones, however. Holmes laughed: "He was asked to shut up in the directors' box at Tiverton on Monday and he ended up going in the dugout!

"To be fair, Tom's voice carries halfway across Wiltshire. In fact, if he shouted in the club office, I think you'd hear him in Southampton! "

Although the Whites are carrying a few bumps and bruises going into tomorrow's penultimate league game, no one wants to miss out on another champagne occasion.

"I've offered to rest people, but they've refused," said Holmes. "Whoever would have thought (striker) Paul Sales would be coming up for his 50th start?" he marvelled.

"People said to me that we wouldn't get 50 games out of him in two seasons let alone one, so I hope that doesn't mean he won't play at all next year!

"I must have made more Friday night calls to Paul than any other player asking about his fitness, but he always says he's alright."

With Matt Tubbs fit again, broken leg victim Andy Cook is Salisbury's only long-term absentee. Swindon Town youngster Ashan Holgate should return after illness.