The Match of the Day Years - July 1999

Open in a new tab and click to enlarge

Back to the future: How comic book heroes came to life in the Premier League - Was Wenger a reader of The Cannonball Kidd and did Crouchie first play for Rockley Rangers?

The era of the football comic book hero may have been consigned to history but the storylines that entertained young boys nationwide every week would not look out of place on the back pages of today's newspapers.

For over a hundred years, the hopes and dreams of football fans were played out in weekly magazines such as Hotspur, Wizard, Buddy, Champ and Tiger by heroes Roy of the Rovers, 'Hot Shot' Hamish, Charlie 'Iron' Barr, Nipper Lawrence, Andy Steele Playmaker and Limp-Along Leslie.
Those superstars played for Melchester Rovers or Blackport Rovers, wore boots more appropriate to deep sea diving and often played on pitches more akin to slurry pits.

But the modern-day youngster now enjoys interactive, 24-hour, wall-to-wall coverage of the nation's game played in purpose-built stadiums on picture perfect surfaces, yet the narratives they devour are much the same as the football stories that comic readers enjoyed.

From corrupt chairmen to success in adversity, cup final heartache, last-minute winners and fancy-dan players, there's much that football lovers from different generations have had in common over the years. It would seem that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Continue reading (enjoying some fabulous comic strips) here