They are paraded through Bamber Bridge and ceremonially “resurrected” or “buried” following the promotion or relegation of either club. There was a new lease of life for football in East Lancashire at Deepdale on Wednesday night There may well be another one soon. “Yes, we’re hoping for a double resurrection this year,” Kathy Officer pondered the day after Matt Jansen’s goal at Preston secured promotion to the Premiership for Blackburn. The landlady of the Top House pub at Bamber Bridge has two coffins in her cellar, one marked “Blackburn Rovers”, the other “Preston North End”. They are paraded through Bamber Bridge and ceremonially “resurrected” or “buried” following the promotion or relegation of either club.
“It’s a tradition that goes back to the 1940s,” Mick Higgins, chairman of the Preston North End and Blackburn Resurrection Committee, said. “It started with two Rovers fans having a laugh when Preston got relegated.

They went into the Trades Hall in the village with a coffin made out of vegetables and said, ‘There you are. We want this cremated.’”Whether or not the ceremony goes ahead as a resurrection double in July, Higgins and the rest of the resident North Enders in Bamber Bridge (three miles to the south of Preston but traditionally Rovers-supporting territory too) can celebrate the breathing of new life into their famous old club.Preston have not sat so proudly in the pecking order of English football since 1964, the year Higgins shouted himself hoarse at Wembley cheering on the North End side, including the 17-year-old Howard Kendall, that lost to West Ham in the FA Cup final.Preston finished third in the old Second Division that season, behind Leeds and Sunderland. They now stand fourth in the new First Division and will finish in the top six whatever the result of their final fixture, against West Bromwich Albion at Deepdale today ­ or David Moyes Day, as it has been declared by North Enders. The Lancashire Evening Post has printed David Moyes Masks and the supporters’ club has urged fans to turn out in tartan as a tribute to Preston’s Caledonian manager. “We just want to say ‘thank you’ to him for such a great season,” Karen Wolstenholme, vice-chairman of the North End supporters’ club, said. “Whether or not we go up, we’ve had a fantastic season and David Moyes has done an excellent job.”From the moment he assumed charge of team affairs at Deepdale, Moyes has had a Midas managerial touch.

In three years and four months as manager of Preston he has achieved more than Bobby Charlton, Harry Catterick, Nobby Stiles, Tommy Docherty and others in the preceding four decades. He has guided the club from 17th place in the Second Division, via a play-off semi-final appearance in 1999 and a championship success last season, to within three play-off matches of the Premier.North End have not been in the top flight since 1961, the year after Tom Finney hung up his boots, and it was a tantalising thought on Wednesday that Deepdale could be on the Premiership map come August. It would be a welcome addition, with its irresistible blend of the old and the new: its splendid new stands, named after Sir Tom and Bill Shankly; its first-class National Football Museum; its “Old Spice” anthem as the players emerge from the tunnel; its timeless view of industrial East Lancashire past the demolished Town End; and, not least, the bright young team Moyes has built, with its apex of talented former Old Trafford trainees, Jon Macken and David Healy.At just turned 38, Moyes himself is very much a bright young thing. A Scotland youth international whose playing career peaked prematurely with a championship win for Celtic in 1982, his managerial talents led to an invitation to become Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant when Brian Kidd left for Ewood Park.