If the FA Cup has a golden age, the 1950s and 1960s can lay a considerable claim. A time of schoolboys being able to list the era’s classic finals dipped in Pathé news sepia may have passed but reminiscing harks back to a time when towns rather than cities were central to English football. Specifically, towns in Lancashire, Saturday’s fifth-round lunchtime kick-off at Deepdale recalling times when Preston and Burnley competed for Cup glory.
North End and the Clarets may not be the fiercest Lancastrian rivalry – Blackpool and Blackburn are their respective bete noires – but it remains hotly contested. The pair met just a fortnight ago for a 0-0 Championship draw that boiled over, Burnley’s midfielder Hannibal Mejbri accusing the Preston forward Milutin Osmajic of racial abuse and Osmajic “strongly refuting” the claims. The matter remains with the Football Association.
