Background
The derby is also known as the M55 derby because the town of Blackpool and city of Preston are at either end of the M55 motorway. The clubs' stadiums – Bloomfield Road and Deepdale, respectively – are seventeen miles apart. In the 2003 The Football Fans Census, fans of both clubs listed the derby as being the main derby, with both sets of fans agreeing that the other club is their main rival. It is one of only 44 such rivalries in England.
Preston player Tom Finney, who played for the Lilywhites from 1946 to 1960, said: "We always saw Blackpool as our main rivals and we had some great matches against them. But there was none of the current nastiness from some fans." While Blackpool player Jimmy Armfield, who played for the Seasiders from 1954 to 1971, said: "The rivalry is mainly between the fans. It started with arguments over whether Stanley Matthews was better than Tom Finney in the '50s."
Ahead of the first derby of the 2008–09 season at Bloomfield Road on 15 November 2008, which Preston won 3–1, Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston said: "As chairman I get excited. It's difficult not to. I feel like telling the manager to feed the players on raw meat all week. I absolutely understand the rivalry, I am probably the person with the fiercest tribal views you can get. It's not to be under-estimated how strongly I feel about this game."
Preston fans refer to Blackpool and their fans as Donkey Lashers, in reference to the walking of donkeys along Blackpool beach. Likewise, Blackpool fans refer to Preston and their fans as Nobbers using a simplistic-but-deliberately-insulting amendment of the word North from Preston North End, which is changed to Nob and sometimes Knob. Gary Peters, who was Preston manager from 1994 to 1998, took the rivalry so seriously that he would not use the word "Blackpool" in public, always referring to the club as "that lot with the tower".
In 2008, journalist Andy Mitten's book, Mad for It: From Blackpool to Barcelona: Football's Greatest Rivalries, included the derby as one of a number of "classic football derby matches".
Read more about this topic: West Lancashire Derby
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