Howard Wilkinson believes staging next week's England Under-21 international clash with Denmark will prove a terrific boost for Bradford City.

The England Under-21 head coach announced his squad yesterday for the clash at Valley Parade on Friday October 8 which included five Leeds United stars.

Wilkinson hopes that the game will attract a bumper crowd and believes this will have a useful knock-on effect for City.

The former Leeds boss said: "Obviously we would like a good crowd at Valley Parade and one of the reasons we came here is we think we will get one.

"We have done tremendously over the past 12 months with the crowds, which is a result of imagination and creative thinking as far as the FA is concerned.

"I don't think it does Bradford any harm to have a large crowd, the majority of which are children.

"For some of them it might be their first opportunity to see professional football and that will come at Bradford, which can only be good for the club."

High-flying Leeds' quintet of stars in the squad are Michael Bridges, Danny Mills, Paul Robinson, Lee Bowyer and Alan Smith.

And Wilkinson insists this is a good indication that there is not a drought of young English talent in the Premiership.

The influx of foreign players in recent seasons has been highlighted as a reason for the lack of success at international level but Wilkinson has selected just two players from outside the top flight for the friendly with Denmark.

He said: "Obviously Leeds' team reflects a very successful accent on youth. The squads picked for this game and the under-18s reflect the same," said Wilkinson.

"Leeds' position in the league speaks for itself. It is too early to start saying silly things but their progress last season and the start of this one suggest that is not going to change."

Wilkinson did, however, admit there was some difficulty in selecting his squad of 22 players for the Denmark game.

The match takes place on the evening before the final European Championship Group Five qualifier between Sweden and Poland where the senior side's fate will be decided.

And the former Sheffield Wednesday boss also has one eye on the under-21 Euro 2000 play-offs in November.

"The squad has been selected in difficult circumstances because the seniors have got a friendly with Belgium and at this moment in time Kevin doesn't know the outcome of the Sweden-Poland game," said Wilkinson.

"So how to direct the energy for these games has been difficult."

Liverpool's Jamie Carragher will captain the side in the absence of West Ham midfielder Frank Lampard.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.