FOOTBALL fanatics from across East Lancashire are bracing themselves for a soccer explosion when England and Spain light the blue touch paper on the Euro 96 fireworks at 3pm today.

But hundreds of local holidaymakers have turned their backs on England for today's Euro 96 quarter-final - and headed for sunny Spain to watch the match!

And they have left behind scores of Spanish fans cheering "Viva Espana" in homes and pubs across the east of the county.

Pubs and off-licenses in the area were selling record amounts of beer today ready for the big game and many sports shops had sold out of Spanish football shirts.

Spain's holiday resorts have been gearing themselves up for an invasion of England fans cheering on Blackburn's Alan Shearer and the team in today's vital clash.

Many holidaymakers booked their trip to the sun long before the two teams won through to the Wembley fixture.

But many more have booked to fly to the Costas especially to watch the game.

Darwen sunseeker Susan Ward flew out to Spain with her husband and four friends just hours before the big game kicked off.

She said: "We booked back in December and just thought we would go to Spain for a change.

"But things have turned out great and we will be definately watching the match. There is a TV in the villa and you can get the football in all the bars."

John Peck from Burnley, a day time manager at Lineker's Bar in Magaluf said: "We have plenty of people from Lancashire over here and the bar has been jam-packed. We have nine televisions and for the Holland game we had 500 inside and another 300 spilling outside. The atmosphere is electric."

Regulars at the bar have been keeping cool with a special Euro 96 cocktail - The Gazza.

John said: "It's a load of white spirits mixed with milk to match Gazza'a hair and the England kit."

A spokesman for Lunn Poly, which has shops throughout East Lancashire, said: "We have had people coming in to book for Spain so they can watch the football in the warm. It has been a good selling point for us."

Back in East Lancashire, Luis Valenzuela, 45, who has lived in England for more than 20 years, is one of the local people rooting for Spain.

But the deputy manager of Foxfields Hotel in Whalley will have to snatch glimpses of the match while supervising a wedding reception.

He said: "There will be radios and televisions turned on around the hotel and it will be crazy if Spain score."

Things will also be tense back at the family home on Marsh House Lane, Darwen. Luis' English wife Pauline and daughter Tanya, 23, will be cheering England but his two sons, Stephen, 20, and 15-year-old Luid are Spain fans.

The demand for replica Spanish shirts was so great that all the sports shops in Blackburn and many in the surrounding area sold out before the big game.

The Ambassador Playa Hotel in Benidorm has two big-screen televisions to show the game as well as TVs in each bedroom.

Thomson's holiday rep at the hotel Tony Treacy said: "We have people here from all over England, including Lancashire and everyone is getting their Union Jacks out. It is going to be a great afternoon.

"Some people are a bit worried about what might happen after the match but generally everything is O.K.

"Things were a bit low key after the Switzerland game but on Tuesday against Holland everyone just went mental. If we beat Spain it will be crazy."

A spokesman at the British Embassy in Madrid said: "Nearly everyone in the building will be watching the game.

"The majority of people in Spain are very, very keen on football and I would say three quarters of the population are following the championships."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.