The Lancashire Senior Cup was not competed for between 1974-1982.

 

The Lancashire Manx Cup was a pre-season competition which revived the old Lancashire Senior Cup and was sponsored by the Isle of Man tourist board.  

 

The winners of the Lancashire Manx Cup were then invited to take part in the Isle of Man football festival the year after.

 

The format of the competition consisted of eight clubs split into two groups. After playing each other team in their group (but only once, they didn’t play each team home and away), the winners of each group then met in the final, with the team with the best record in their group having home advantage.

 

The competition was seen as a means to attracting larger pre-season gates due to the element of local rivalry and also as a replacement for the old Anglo-Scottish Cup. Rovers withdrew from the competition before the 1992 tournament by which time they were a Premier League side. After their withdrawal, the competition struggled on and eventually the competition slowly died a death.

 

The Isle of Man football festival continues to be played every summer on the island.

 

In total, Rovers took part in ten Lancashire Manx Cup competitions, reaching the final on six occasions, winning the Cup four times. The most eagerly awaited ties tended to be those against Burnley, Rovers' bitter rivals. The teams met six times in the competition, Rovers winning three and drawing two. Burnley won just the one game between the two sides; in 1987 at Turf Moor. There were two sweet moments for Rovers fans, one at Ewood and one at Turf Moor. Glenn Keeley lifted the 1985 trophy at Ewood Park after beating Burnley 1-0 and in 1989, the ‘Blue and Whites’ triumphed over the ‘Claret and Blues’ at Turf Moor on their way to winning the competition that year with a 4,000 strong Rovers following making up nearly half of the 9,000 crowd.

 

This competition also meant that, despite not meeting in league football, the rivalry between Blackburn Rovers and Burnley continued to be as strong, passionate and fierce as always. Only when Rovers left the competition and competed in the Premier League could the enmity between the two have been said to have lessened at all.