The problem goes beyond teams not representing the names of ‘Legacy Clubs’ (feel free to vomit at a time of your own choosing), nor do they fit the description of top Premier League sides, though Villa are currently trying to change that perception. It isn’t even those people whose memories of the game go back no further than 1992 that are the issue. To appreciate the value of this pairing, you need to have some knowledge of the origins of football itself.

Both clubs were original members of the Football League, a concept placed before the twelve interested parties by Villa chairman William McGregor. The league being a Villa idea, you might have hoped the other eleven would have done the decent thing and allowed us to stroll off with the title in the opening campaign, but no. The impudent pups from Preston not only won the league, they snaffled the cup, too! Just to rub it in, they didn’t lose a single game all season and won the cup without conceding a single goal. Thus was born the legend of the ‘Invincibles’ and the immediate establishment of Preston’s name at the top of the game.

Not satisfied with this, Preston also won the league the next season, with three runners-up spots to follow before the nineties saw other teams come to the fore, none more so than Aston Villa who, as the Lancashire club’s star began to wane, dominated for the rest of the century with five titles gathered up by 1900, along with an FA Cup or two, ensuring that Villa were on the same pantheon of greatness as Preston, having secured their own double in 1897.

The eventual decline of both clubs would take a book rather than this article to detail but it’s fair to say that Preston fell first, relegated for the first time in 1901, though they regularly reappeared in the top division, still up for a cup challenge with names like Shankly and Finney to spark hopes of a return of the great days. Villa’s falling away was over a longer period, too many people regarding them as a great club solely due to reputation, as its structure and morale slowly began to rot away.

There was still some heft to the clashes between the two sides, even when both held an undistinguished position in the second division, if only because memories of greatness die slowly. The teams haven’t really met each other that often in my lifetime of watching Villa, as they have been in different divisions for most of this time. In truth, we could have done with playing Preston more often, as their record at Villa Park was shockingly bad, giving us hope that some victories were still possible, even if the number was limited.

Still, our Lancashire rivals have, like Fulham in recent years, been so good to us that even when they turn us over, they do it in such a way that it rebounds to our benefit. There are three examples of this that I can think of, the first of which came with the club at, arguably, its lowest ebb.

It was November 1968 with Villa, slumping towards the bottom of the league, facing mid-table Preston at home. Villa might have regarded the game as winnable because of the situation of their opponents but we were showing little ability to beat the meanest opposition. At least we got off to a decent start, Welsh international wing-half Barrie Hole striking a typical finish from the edge of the box, just past Allan Kelly’s left-hand post at the Holte End. The first twenty minutes was quite encouraging but the reality soon settled in that this was a poor, uninspired side prone to lose confidence when things did not go their way, as they usually didn’t.

With Preston just as lacking in creativity as Villa, the game gave a new meaning to the term ‘stalemate’ but then ill-fortune took a hand. A cross from the left seemed to carry little threat but Willie Irvine, a striker with a good goalscoring record who had learnt his craft at the shoulder of the revered Andy Lochhead at Turf Moor, made the most of an unpromising situation. Although unable to reach the cross, Willie was able to give Villa centre-back Fred Turnbull a decent shove in the direction of the ball, causing the hapless Turnbull to deflect it past John Dunn for the only goal of the game.

The goal seemed to release the frustrations of years, some would say decades, of mismanagement at Villa Park and loud chants of “The board must go” from the sub-14,000 crowd rang around the old ground, underpinned by the bassline of disgruntled foot-stampings from the wooden flooring of the old Trinity Road stand. This was nothing to do with the entitlement of the modern football fan throwing a strop at not being able to beat ‘little’ Preston. This was a long accumulation of resentment at the petty humiliations of Saturday afternoon beatings, the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

When wily Willie pulled his clever trick, he probably didn’t consider the possibility that he was starting off a big fan protest that would include the production of Villa Park’s first bedsheet banner, an angry crowd outside the ground after the game that had to be dispersed by police; another loud protest in the city centre that evening; a memorable meeting in Digbeth at which it became apparent that the directors would consider stepping down, at long last, allowing a new board with new ideas to revive the club from its near-terminal decline. And Willie just thought he was trying to earn his win bonus!

Progress doesn’t always go in a straight line, so, painful as it was at the time, Villa and Preston meeting up in the third division became a launch-pad of sorts for both clubs. The Lilywhites achieved promotion a year ahead of Villa, who took an extra season to resume the rivalry at the second level. This only lasted a couple of years before Preston paid a heavy price for appointing Bobby Charlton as player-manager with disastrous effect. Remarkably, this relegation meant the two clubs didn’t meet in league competition for over forty years. David Moyes had a good go at getting them up but just fell short so it was left to a record-breakingly bad Villa team to end this long period of separation.

Our visit to Deepdale in October 2016 saw a Villa side with only one win all season hoping for the first away victory in well over a year. From the off, it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen today. Ben Pearson, one of the best referees the division has seen, slid home past Mark Bunn after the ball came to him in space in the box. McGeady set up what should have been a second but Baptiste headed over from six yards. Villa’s only response saw Jonathan Kodjia head wide from twelve yards.

Perhaps alarmed at Villa’s temerity in having an attack, the home side swept up the other end and Pearson, proving too strong for Westwood, fed Danny Johnson. Bunn did well to save but Jordan Hugill was on hand to tap in. On came Rudy Gestede, whose first act was to head over from Ayew’s corner. Another sub, Ross McCormack, put a free-kick narrowly wide before the cap was put on the whole performance when his late penalty was saved by Chris Maxwell.

The Preston fans behaved themselves and didn’t chant “You’re getting sacked in the morning” to the ineffective Roberto Di Matteo; they left that to the Villa fans, who had seen enough. They had it about right, too, as Roberto was soon on his way. Former Villa player and Preston’s boss, Simon Grayson, tried not to be too cruel in his post-match summing-up but made the pointed comment that Villa had spent a lot of money on established players but his side was full of young men fighting to make their way in the game and looking more of a team than Villa did. The fact that Preston’s side included Villa ‘rejects’ like Danny Johnson and Callum Robinson, emphasised the long waste of resources.

So, everyone was happy – Preston deservedly took the points and Villa put a pretty useless manager out of his and our misery, with new appointment Steve Bruce bringing some immediate improvement. After one win in the previous twenty-four league games, you could safely describe the bar as a bit on the low side.

Fast-forward two years and more change was in the air. Bruce’s Villa team was on a run of one in ten, despite his team featuring an array of expensive attacking talent. Preston, now managed by Alex Neil, were rock-bottom. In the Managerial Pressure derby, Villa looked well placed at half-time. A fine header from Kodjia and a solo effort from on-loan Tammy Abraham had put us in control. This lead was imperilled soon after the break when an extremely dubious ‘foul’ on Lukas Nmecha by James Chester resulted not just in a penalty but also a red card for the Villa skipper. Danny Johnson put his left foot to good use by scoring from the spot.

Bruce then reverted to type by taking off forwards who might have taken the game to the opposition and bringing on defenders to protect the lead. In the end, Villa had four right-backs on the pitch, a kind of tribute to the essence of BruceBall. It worked for a while with Preston hitting the post and Bunn making a good save. The ‘keeper then threw in a free-kick rather pathetically before Louis Moult headed in from a corner, meaning that all three away subs had scored – some sort of a record?

Somehow, Villa rallied and Yannick Bolassie calmly equalised from a corner in stoppage time. There was still more to come! Villa earned another corner where Danny Johnson got tangled up with Birkir Bjarnason and the ref pointed to the spot. However, with so many strikers having gone off, who would take this pivotal kick? Some would have plumped for Bolassie, confidence high after his goal. Alternatively, the multi-talented Jack Grealish was available. Instead, Glenn Whelan stepped up, possessing the proud record of one goal in the last seven years. A pretty insipid penalty was saved, once again by Maxwell, in the last act of the match.

Many have speculated on what might have happened had Glenn’s kick been successful. Certainly, Villa would have moved into the play-off spots with a win. Others noted the poisonous atmosphere around the ground as patience had run out with Bruce. The cabbage thrown at him during the match led to a slew (should that be slaw?) of vegetable jokes but things like this shouldn’t really happen at the football. Preston’s point meant that they stayed bottom, though they were soon to improve. Had they hung on for just a few more minutes they would have enjoyed their first win at Villa Park since… November 1968. I love it when a story comes full circle, don’t you?