A NEW £12m football exhibition kicks off tomorrow giving fans a touchline view of some of the best soccer memorabilia in the country.

And Blackburn Rovers take their rightful place in the museum as champions of the Premier League in 1995.

The National Football Museum at Preston North End's Deepdale Stadium is full of fascinating football memorabilia.

It and chronicles the birth of the national game, including how East Lancashire clubs started.

The centrepiece is the FIFA Museum Collection, arguably the world's finest array of football artefacts from the first ever England shirt to programmes from the '98 World Cup in France.

It centres on what makes the beautiful game beautiful and like football itself only the strongest survive and get included in the exhibition.

Teams like Huddersfield, who had their moment under the legendary manager Herbert Chapman, Arsenal who dominated in the 30s and of course Manchester United, are all given prominence as are Blackburn who were among the league's founders and Premier League champions in 1995.

A beaming picture of Jack Walker tells the story of how a team came back from the brink to take on the might of Manchester United and win.

Unfortunately neighbours Burnley don't get the same billing although they are mentioned as an important piece in football's history. Not that Clarets fans should enjoy the experience any less than the average football supporter reckons marketing manager Mark Bushell. He said: "Burnley are mentioned within the exhibition because they were one of the 12 teams who originally founded the football league in 1888 and we always welcome additions to the collection from fans.

"We can't mention all the teams in great deal but the museum is about how teams like Burnley and Blackburn Rovers were shaped and how they have such passionate supporters."

Visitors to the museum, which is built into Deepdale and stretches under the Sir Tom Finney Stand, walk down a distinctively football tunnel-looking entrance to the First Half of the exhibition, a multi-sensory walk through the ages of football starting at 2000 and counting back to around 1863.

Music of the era accompanies stirring pictures of the day, both in football and society, while certain innovations of the game are highlighted, good and bad.

A plastic seat signals the change of the game in the 90s and the rise of the fanzine - including a copy of Burnley's Who Ate All The Pies - is documented in the 80s.

The game's darker images like the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, the Bradford fire in 1985 and the crush at Burnden Park in 1946 are also featured.

Once back to the 1800s the very beginnings of the game are exhibited and East Lancashire clubs are all heavily mentioned.

Blackburn Olympic FC, who won the FA Cup in 1883, Darwen FC, Accrington Stanley and Burnley and Blackburn Rovers were all important teams in the early days of football.

In 1888 the football league as we know it was formed with five teams from Lancashire: Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End, Accrington Stanley, Bolton and Burnley.

Preston won the first championship with Blackburn coming in at fourth, Accrington at seventh and Burnley at ninth.

The different football facts are just too numerous to mention.

The Second Half features interactive games such as a table football game where every goal is replayed on monitors.

The museum, which is entirely independent from Preston North End, is set up by the National Football Museum Association and the northern venue was chosen as an alternative to London because of the region's historic football links in the formation of the league.

The National Football Museum opens tomorrow and admission is £6.95 for adults, £4.95 for children 5-15. Concession is £4.95 and children under five go in for free.