By Ben Kunicki BBC Sport Online

Monday's drab draw between Yorkshire and Lancashire confirmed the fact that both proud counties continue to wane.

Yorkshire's spectacular fall from grace from champions last season to relegation favourites this summer is a stark reminder to those with lofty ambitions.

The prospect of giants like the Roses counties being relegated would be unthinkable in most sports.

Neighbours settle for draw

The relegation from the Premiership of teams such as Liverpool and Leeds is virtually impossible at the moment.

But if the league was reduced to just nine with seventh being relegated then it could become reality.

Even then such an occurrence remains unlikely and it is to the bafflement of many that clubs the size of Yorkshire and Lancashire find themselves in this position.

"Everybody thought they had made great strides last season," says Jim Love, former coach of Scotland and a Yorkshire player from 1975 to 1993.

Soul searching

Love who now runs a pub in his native county says that the demise of Darren Lehmann's team has been a major topic of conversation amongst his locals.

"Everyone's got to look at themselves from the top down," he says.

However, although Love feels that Yorkshire could make changes in an effort to appease the members, he confirms that criticism of Lehmann has been at a minimum.

Love says supporters cannot understand Yorkshire's form

"There's not been any real criticism of him, I think people still respect him as a good player."

Meanwhile across the Pennines Lancashire's slump in the four-day game has continued despite last year's end-of-season bloodletting.

The appointment of Mike Watkinson and Warren Hegg in place of Bobby Simpson and John Crawley was designed to pour oil on troubled waters.

Former Lancashire captain John Abrahams, now the assistant coach to the England Academy, says that he feels the team spirit is there.

"The spirit in both camps seems quite good.

"When I went to see the Roses match recently I saw the fielding drills and everybody seemed in a good mood.

"Watkinson and Hegg seem to be enjoying their partnership although they'll be very disappointed with the championship form."

Struggling bowlers

Both teams at the moment are over-reliant on their impressive seam-attacks and this season it has shown.

With the batsmen failing to make runs, the bowlers have been put under pressure and Yorkshire in particular have struggled to bowl sides out twice.

These temporary blips have become more significant as the season has developed leaving the two sides in trouble.

At the heart of the matter are structural problems which have hamstrung clubs that should be amongst the most powerful in the land.

Both clubs have Test match status and both retain large memberships but in comparison to the southern giants of Surrey they appear to have little cash to spend.

Whilst Surrey have combined ground improvements with aggressive recruitment, Yorkshire's stated intention is to rely on their prolific Academy.

Watkinson has been unable to replicate his success as captain

For this season at least that policy has left them an experienced batsman or two short and subsequently they have struggled for form.

Lancashire too appear to have little cash to spend but they have been left to play catch-up with their youth policy.

After a period of neglect the county have started to get their act together as far as youth development is concerned.

However, they have still been left with a shortfall for now.

And without Surrey's spending power Lancashire were forced to recruit lesser lights such as Alec Swann and the retired David Byas during the winter.

Although relegation in the county championship is not quite the financial disaster that relegation from football's Premiership may be, it would still be a blow.

For a county with as volatile a history as Yorkshire, it would be unlikely that the squad and coaching staff would remain intact, undermining the work of recent years.

Over the Pennines, relegation may spell the end of several senior players careers, leaving the team in an even more transitional state than before.

One thing is for certain, the ructions of any relegation will reverberate around the north for some time to come.