This popular comic has been featured in this series before. Dave Webb appeared on the back page on 26th February 1977 as the latest inclusion in ‘Roy’s Star Team’.
As for its contents, first up is ‘Smith & Son’ – Barry Smith, ex-international soccer star was the Manager of 4th Division Grandon Town…and was helped by his son Danny. Barry was shocked when, after at last managing to get a strong first team squad together, his young midfield star, Mick Lomax, was the target of a ¬£100,000 bid from Lynchester United. Now, at midweek training….
This is followed by ‘Mi¬£¬£ionaire Vi¬£¬£a’ – David Bradley had given First Division Selby Villa two million pounds, on condition that he played in the 1st team. Selby’s Manager, Joe Weston, spent a large chunk of the money buying star Scottish striker Danny Maclean – but David Bradley accidently broke the Scot’s leg during a practice match. After Danny had made a complete recovery he was afraid of any physical contact on the field, so Joe Weston ordered Villa captain Terry Lucas to “accidently” bump into Maclean. But…
Flicking over to the next page is ‘The Football’ – Charlie Capes and Andy Wakefield owned The Football. A television film company saw the boys playing football with Charlie’s cousin, Pat, and some children. The Producer said he wanted to film the action for a forthcoming TV programme. As a result, the youngsters were invited to the television studios to see the transmission…
Next up is the main feature, ‘Roy of the Rovers’, and in full colour. Although still unbeaten in the league, mighty Melchester Rovers had lost 1-0 in the 1st leg of the League Cup semi-final, thanks to an accidental slip by goalkeeper Charlie Carter. Meanwhile, Rovers had gone 26 league games without defeat, when Carter made an even more disastrous mistake against Redpool in a league game, Rovers’ Manager Roy Race realised that his brilliant young keeper had lost his confidence.
‘The Hard Man’ – Johnny Dexter, the tough, quick-tempered captain of 1st Division Danefield United, was back in the England squad. But when he was invited to appear on a television programme, he had a disagreement with the interviewer and stormed off the set: “Let me out of here…I’m not staying around to be insulted”.
‘You Are The Star’ – This meant that the reader could personalise the story by filling in their name and even adding a photo in the space provided.
‘Tommy’s Troubles’ – Tommy Barnes and his pal, Ginger Collins, went to Crowhurst School where they were only supposed to play rugby…but they got permission to start their own soccer team. They entered for the District Cup competition and then found that the few boys who had volunteered to play football only wanted to do so to avoid playing rugger…
‘Mike’s Mini Men’ – Mike Dailey had been having a tough time since joining St Marks, his new Boarding School, from some of the boys, his Housemaster and a Prefect. Mike wanted to form a table football league and after a great deal of trouble he finally got permission to go ahead. But getting ready for his first school day, Mike had other things on his mind…
There hasn’t been any new ‘Roy of the Rovers’ material apparently since 2001, but there is an active website and re-prints of some of the strips have appeared in printed form and on-line.
Steve Russell