I GOT a bit of stick recently for a piece in this column about how real derby matches were being devalued by the plethora of Mickey Mouse so-called derbies.

In protest to media claims that there were 40-odd derbies in the Premiership this season, I said the only real derbies were Sunderland/Newcastle, City/United, Liverpool/Everton, Spurs/Arsenal and Birmingham /Aston Villa.

Some Wanderers fans read between the lines and reckoned I didn't think Bolton had a proper derby - just a few of those B list Lancashire and North-west derbies which, let's face it, are 10 a penny in football these days.

My hope of a quiet life wasn't helped by suggesting Bolton v Blackburn wasn't a real derby.

No apologies there. You need an atmosphere for a derby, and a muted, two-thirds full Ewood Park hardly fits the bill.

Teams can only have one derby and it doesn't change year by year.

But in my time on this newspaper, Wanderers have had so-called derbies against Wigan Athletic, Bury, Manchester City, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and, now, Wigan again.

A Wanderers fan friend of mine put the issue in a nutshell when he said the club's derby depends on who is in the same division at the time.

A basic rule of thumb, however, is if you don't know who your one derby rivals are, then you don't have one.