Preston North End take on Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup this afternoon as the two ‘Lilywhites’ go head to head at Deepdale.
PNE have had some lofty visitors to Deepdale in the last 10 years or so.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City have all been drawn against PNE in cup competitions.
North End sadly haven’t managed to win any of them but fans will be hoping for a cup upset against Tottenham today.
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This is the first meeting between PNE and Tottenham since 2009, when Peter Crouch scored a hat-trick to help Spurs to a 5-1 win against North End.
This game pits the two clubs with the ‘Lilywhites’ nickname against each other – but PNE may feel they can lay claim to being the originals.
As noted by Spurs For Life, Tottenham changed their kit colours to pay tribute to North End, who were the major force in English football in the late 1880’s.
Some may be aware of Leeds United doing similar; Don Revie pushed for the club to play in all white due to the achievements of Real Madrid.
Tottenham seemingly wanted to pay tribute to North End and their success in the early years of the Football League.
Before that, Tottenham had turned out in a wide range of colours, as seen on Historical Kits.
Navy blue, half-and-half shirts with different shades of blue, a red number with navy shorts and even an orange and brown looking jersey that makes you think of Bradford City; Tottenham went through a number of kits.
In the end, they settled on the white shirt with navy shorts and navy socks, a kit we of course associate so strongly with PNE.
North End will be donning those colours tonight and one flag at Deepdale will be displaying the message ‘the original Lilywhites’.
It’s great to see two clubs so intrinsically linked going head to head tonight, and PNE would no doubt love to come out on top against the team who completely bypassed North End after paying tribute to them.