Steve Tongue - Lancashire Turf Wars: A Football History

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2018

Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Steve Tongue, 2018

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Print ISBN ISBN- 978-1-78531-435-3
eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-470-4

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Central Lancashire, the first northern football powerhouse, initially around Turton, Darwen, Bolton, Blackburn and Accrington; Manchester, a huge cotton centre but still a rugby city; Darwen, the first to make an impact in early FA Cups, quickly followed by Blackburn rivals Olympic and Rovers as supremacy of the southern amateurs is quashed; accusations of payments to players unconvincingly denied before professionalism legalised in 1885; early days of Everton, Bootle and Manchester clubs before Football League begins.

Lancashires six form half of the worlds first football league, dominated by Prestons Invincibles; contrasting fortunes of Blackburn pair; Burnleys scandalous bore war ends relegation test matches; Bolton to Burnden; Everton leave Anfield and spawn greatest rivals, then take on new ones along the Ship Canal; Manchesters big two on the rise but shaken by Bury; twin towers of Blackpool and New Brighton; Bootle, Darwen and Halliwell cant live McGregors dream.

Lancashire to the fore; Liverpool down and up in Merseysides first double; footballs innocence destroyed by the fix with Man United; players union revived in Manchester; Citys own scandal and Merediths move; Bob Cromptons defiant Blackburn champions at last; Boltons yo-yoing; Burnleys cup; greatest years of cup winners Bury and First Division runners-up Oldham; hard times and war times.

Keeping pace with Huddersfield and Arsenal in years of economic struggle; missed pools opportunity; goals galore for Liverpools Hodgsonand Evertons Dean; Boltons chaotic Wembley debut and 1920s FA Cup treble before north-wests worst-ever season; Blackburn take Villa down with them; City at Maine Road - the champions relegated; Uniteds grim 30s; Blackpools Jimmy Hampson tragedy; slow decline of Oldham; Third Division North for Rochdale, Tranmere and others; but only briefly for Nelson, Stalybridge and Wigan Borough; from South Liverpool, a new New Brighton.

The three-match season of 1939/40; ban on organised sport quickly lifted but with restrictions; goalscorers cash in; emergence of Liddell, Finney and Mortensen; Stanley Matthews a most welcome guest for powerful Blackpool, who join Preston and Bolton as War Cup winners; prisoners of war at Deepdale; United bombed out for eight years.

Matt Busby revives United before the tragedy of Munich; Matthews and Finney build the Blackpool-Preston rivalry - but only one of them wins any medals; Burnden Park disaster and the Lion of Vienna; Merseyside pair swap fortunes and First Division place pre-Shankly; Citys familiar ups-and-downs; Burnley unfashionable champions, Blackburns ten years below stairs; plenty of Third North and Fourth Division strugglers; New Brighton voted out of league.

Goals and wages up, crowds down and reform rejected; divide begins between big cities and the rest as Preston, Bolton, Blackburn, Blackpool are all relegated; Everton and Liverpool lay down a powerful Mersey beat; Allison boasts hell overtake United, who win the European Cup four days after Citys league title; Burnley runners-up and European competitors before slow decline; Burys eventful decade; Ken Batess great plans for Oldham; Tranmere, Southport, Stockport turn to pay-night football; Rochdale reach a League Cup final; but Accrington collapse in mid-season.

Scottish (male) ruffians; England games in Blackburn, Manchester and Liverpool; Nettie Honeyball and the British Ladies FC; Dick, Kerr Ladies FC, self-styled world champions; FAs draconian ban; new beginnings and St Helens cup finals; Everton, Liverpool and City; but no United for almost 100 years.

Liverpools successful succession; Shankly-Paisley-Fagan-Dalglish and trophies galore amid the horrors of Heysel and Hillsborough; two Merseyside FA Cup finals and two Everton titles under Kendall for the soccer capital of the world; United down with the Doc but back in style before Fergies uncertain beginnings; Citys one trophy, downs and ups; narrow escape for Burnley; Blackpools sad decline is even quicker; Lofthouse out and back at Bolton; Blackburn lose managers to top division but gain a benefactor; Wigan in for Southport on second ballot; Oldhams success story.

Only Northern Nomads and Skem make Amateur Cup impression; Lancs Challenge Trophy a gateway to the Football League; but Altrincham left two votes short; South Liverpools complex history; short-lived dreams of Manchester Central and Colne Dynamoes; upward progress of FC United rebels, Fylde and Salford.

A whole new ball game as the big five get the reform they wanted - a breakaway league and lucrative TV deal; Cantonas United do the Double, Beckhams United the Treble; Hillsborough takes its toll on Dalglish before he makes Blackburn champions of England; Goodisons School of Science houses the Dogs of War; City not really here in third tier; Oldhams Royle progress; Boltons white hot years with Rioch; heady days for Tranmere and Stockport; Wigan enter the DW era.

City over the blue moon with Fergies time up; Liverpool find title elusive but perform a miracle in Europe; Everton in neighbours shadow still; Wigans unique double; Venkys at Blackburn; Owen Coyle does the rounds; Holloways Blackpool prove every dog has its day; Preston end play-off hoodoo; historic high for Rochdale but down, down for Stockport; Accrington back and making national news; Morecambe shrimps among the big fish; Fleetwoods impressive progress.

Many thanks to all who have helped with queries, memories and memorabilia, notably Tony Bugby, Cliff Butler, Roy Calley, Sarah Collins, Tony Coombes, Dr Graham Curry, Louise Gwilliam, Ian Herbert, Mark Iddon, Hyder Jawad, John Keith, Julian Lillington, Andy Mitchell, Gail Newsham, David Pugh, John Roberts, Paul Rowley, Catherine Tongue, Peter Wadsworth and Steve Wilson.

To Duncan Olner and Graham Hales for design and to Paul Camillin, Jane Camillin and Derek Hammond of Pitch Publishing.

We suggest that Lancashire holds a very honoured and exalted place in the football world.

History of the Lancashire Football Association 1878-1928.

A S the Lancashire FA approached its 140th anniversary in 2018, Liverpool were competing in the Champions League Final, and the top two teams in the Premier League season just finished were old enemies Manchester City and Manchester United, the latter having also played in the FA Cup Final. Burnley and Everton, founder members of the Football League in 1888, made it five teams from the red rose county in the top eight.