[1] 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.

[5] 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".

For example, on 30 April 1904, Blackpool visited Deepdale for the final game of the season, and the home side's single-goal victory gave them the Division Two championship, edging out Woolwich Arsenal.

In 1912–13, Preston won the Division Two championship (and fellow Lancastrians Burnley were also promoted) while Blackpool finished bottom of the table.

[8] Between 1946 and 1961, the derby took place in the top flight of English football for all but two seasons, with both clubs playing in the First Division.

[8] Blackpool ruined Preston North End's Christmas of 1958 with a festive double in the space of twenty-four hours.

[8] During the first half of a friendly between the two clubs on 15 August 1966 came the news that Alan Ball had been transferred to Everton for a fee of £112,000.

[11] Alan Suddick scored his 100th League goal, a penalty, in Blackpool's 3–0 victory at Bloomfield Road on 23 March 1974.

With Preston leading 3–1 in the final minute, Blackpool goalkeeper Tom McAlister saved Ricky Thomson's penalty, tipping the ball onto the bar.

[8] With both clubs languishing in the lower tiers of the Football League, some consolation came for Preston in the 1992–93 season, when they won 3–2 at Bloomfield Road, with Tony Ellis scoring a hat-trick.

Their draw at Bloomfield Road in April 2000 assisted in their promotion from Division Two to the second tier of English football for the first time in twenty years.

The two clubs did not play each other for another seven years, during which time Preston finished fourth in their first season in Division One and reached the play-offs, losing out on promotion to the Premier League to Bolton Wanderers in the final.

Meanwhile, Blackpool languished in the bottom two divisions, before finally winning promotion back to the second tier (the Championship) in the 2006–07 season.

However, after a much-publicised fall out with Preston manager John Beck over a new contract and his role within the club, Ellis signed for Blackpool for £165,000.

As part of the same deal, Frank O'Donnell exchanged the white of Preston for Blackpool tangerine, and his brother, Hugh, followed him two years later.

The most recent of these occurred in 2015, when Northern Irish striker Andy Little moved directly to Blackpool on loan from Preston.

Preston won 2–1, but one critic wrote: "The good thing in the match from Blackpool's point of view was the showings of Starkey and Gregson.

This derby saw significant disorder – including several pitch invasions – and was dubbed the "Night of Shame" by both the Lancashire Evening Post and the Blackpool Gazette.

Kevin Halliwell, a 47-year-old lifelong Blackpool fan, collapsed just minutes before kick-off at Deepdale and died before reaching the Royal Preston Hospital.

Promotion ensured that the rivalry with Preston North End would once again happen on the pitch with each club being in the Championship in the 2007–08 season.

In June 2007, following threats from Blackpool and Preston hooligans to cause mayhem when the two clubs meet, Preston's top police officer, Chief Superintendent Mike Barton, warned that "The history of these derbies means we will have to have a significant policing operation both at Deepdale and Bloomfield Road."

Blackpool fans arriving at Preston railway station went through airport-style security scanners to check for potential weapons.

Blackpool hooligans went on a rampage smashing windows and ripping seats out of specially chartered buses laid on to transport them from the railway station to Deepdale, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

The aircraft trailed two banners over the stadium reading: "Poor Little Preston Enjoy League One" and "We Are Superior, Love Blackpool FC."

Preston manager Phil Brown called the stunt "distasteful", adding, "if I had a gun I would have shot the plane down".

The club however reacted by taking the stunt in good humour issuing a statement saying: "We can see the funny side of the joke and accept that with any setback you will always have opposition supporters ready to poke fun.

[30] By contrast to the violence that sometimes surrounds the West Lancashire derby, fans of both clubs have joined to raise money for local charities.

The FA later announced via a spokesman that they would look into the disorder, with a local senior police officer condemning the fans' behaviour as "absolutely disgraceful".

[32] In April 2008, football magazine FourFourTwo ran a four-page article about the derby, entitled "Sheep Shaggers vs Donkey Lashers".

[33] The derby was mentioned in passing as the subject of a £1 or quid bet by Tantivy in Thomas Pynchon's postmodern novel Gravity's Rainbow.