The Match of the Day Years - January 2000

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Roy of the Rovers: The King!

In the RotR Monthlies Fleetway tried to change the story, trying to explain how Roy Race's career spanned 4 decades. A rather controversial decision for many of the fans. Here's the final installment. As always, open in a new tab and click to enlarge.

The Match of the Day Years - December 1999

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Roy of the Rovers: The King!

In the RotR Monthlies Fleetway tried to change the story, trying to explain how Roy Race's career spanned 4 decades. A rather controversial decision for many of the fans. Here's the second of the installments. As always, open in a new tab and click to enlarge.

The Match of the Day Years - November 1999

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The Match of the Day Years - October 1999

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‘70s-‘80s Τα Περιοδικά που αγαπήσαμε

Ένα βιβλίο-λεύκωμα για όλους τους πιστούς φίλους της «χρυσής» εποχής των εικονογραφημένων στην Ελλάδα. Μετά το πρώτο τους επιτυχημένο πόνημα «Ο Μπλεκ και οι …άλλοι», οι δυο συγγραφείς Νίκος Δημ. Νικολαΐδης και Γιώργος Πολ Παπαδάκης, ρομαντικοί ρέκτες και οι ίδιοι, επανέρχονται με ένα ακόμη πιο εμπεριστατωμένο έργο- φόρο τιμής σε μια νοσταλγική εποχή!

Μέσα από τις σελίδες του παρελαύνουν ολοζώντανοι όλοι οι δημοφιλείς χαρακτήρες των περιοδικών της δεκαετίας του ’70 και του ’80, ενώ περιέχονται πολλά αποσπάσματα από τα κόμικς που λάτρεψαν χιλιάδες αγόρια και κορίτσια εκείνου του καιρού. Πρόκειται για μια σπάνια συλλεκτική έκδοση, που δεν πρέπει να λείπει από τη βιβλιοθήκη κανενός!

Μπορείτε να το βρείτε στο βιβλιοπωλείο «Πρωτοπορία»
http://www.protoporia.gr/

Roy of the Rovers: The King!

In the RotR Monthlies Fleetway tried to change the story, trying to explain how Roy Race's career spanned 4 decades. A rather controversial decision for many of the fans. Here's the first of the installments. As always, open in a new tab and click to enlarge.

The Match of the Day Years - September 1999

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The rise and fall of the great British football comic

Will there ever be room for another Roy of the Rovers?

In a number of areas, British comics are enjoying something of a resurgence at the moment. There are a slew of intelligent and inventive indie comics creators, particularly working in the autobiographical field, in print and online. British writers and artists are again among the foremost talents pushing the envelope in the mainstream superhero field. And even 2000 AD is going through a fresh purple patch of critical acclaim and publicity for both the weekly comic, and the cult hit Dredd movie adaptation.

The Match of the Day Years - August 1999

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The Match of the Day Years - July 1999

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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

The Match of the Day Years - June 1999

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What 'Roy of the Rovers' means to me

My love of football can partly be traced to Roy of the Rovers. I was not around when the weekly Roy of the Rovers story started in the first issue of Tiger on 11 September, 1954 but when the stand alone comic began in 1976, I followed the exploits of Roy Race religiously until the tragic closure of the comic on 20 March, 1993. For me, Roy of the Rovers represents the glamorous and unpredictable nature of football with last-minute goals in Cup finals and a never-say-die attitude which I try to take with me every time I step on the pitch.

The Match of the Day Years - May 1999

 

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"Fan art" missing matches

"Storky Knight" is a reader of this blog who had a very original idea. He has played around with the scans of the comic strip with the aim of filling in missing matches from great seasons of the past.

All he's done is think of a match that wasn't included in the comics; reuse blocks, recolour strips (and crowds) and think of a suitable story. You can see what he's come up with here

Roy of the Rovers in FourFourTwo magazine (July 2003)

Αφιέρωμα του περιοδικού FourFourTwo, τον Ιούλιο του 2003.

The Match of the Day Years - April 1999

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The Match of the Day Years - March 1999

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