There was The Lancashire County Football Association Cup and there was the FA Cup.
People in Lancashire were taking to football in their hundreds of thousands. Clubs in Lancashire were employing professionals and they were having a major impact on the game's development.
The two biggest clubs, the most formidable, were Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End.
In 1883 Blackburn Olympic won the FA Cup.
In 1884 Preston North End had been thrown out of the FA Cup for professionalism.
In 1884, 1885 and 1886 Blackburn Rovers had won the FA Cup.
In 1885 The Football Association had accepted professionalism.
In the 1887-88 season 149 clubs entered the FA Cup. 25 of these clubs were from Lancashire.
On 15 October 1887, Hyde, from Manchester, traveled to Deepdale to play Preston North End. Preston North End won the match 26-0.This is still a record for a senior football match in England.
Preston North End
|
Hyde
|
|
Addison
|
GK
|
Bunyan
|
Howarth
|
RB
|
Gregory
|
N.J Ross
|
LB
|
J.H Hall
|
Goodall
|
RH
|
Hurst
|
Russell
|
CH
|
Bowers
|
Graham
|
LH
|
Wilson
|
Gordon
|
OR
|
J. Hall
|
J.D Ross
|
IR
|
Presslee
|
Thomson
|
CF
|
Robinson
|
Dewhurst
|
IL
|
Wood
|
Drummond
|
OL
|
Hodgkinson
|
At half time it was 12-0 and Addison had yet to touch the ball.
Jimmy Ross scored 8 goals.
Gordon and Thomson scored 5 each.
Dewhurst scored 3, Drummond 2 and Nick Ross, Russell and John Goodall each scored one goal.
In the next round Preston North End played Everton and beat them 6-1. Everton were retrospectively disqualified from the competition and Preston North End then had to play the team who Everton had defeated in the first round, Bolton Wanderers. At Deepdale Preston North End defeated Bolton Wanderers 9-1. Jimmy Ross scored 6 goals.
It was quite a season for Preston, as they clocked up 42 consecutive victories.
Further Cup wins came against Halliwell (4-0), Aston Villa and The Wednesday (both 3-1 away), and Crewe Alexandra (4-0).
The biggest prize evaded them, however, thanks to a 2-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup Final.
