What drew people to the story, though, was Roy himself - here was a footballing hero on to whom readers could project themselves, but also a good man from whose trials and tribulations they could learn. It is not just football but footballers themselves that have changed markedly from the original Roy's time. In addition to the players mentioned above who migrated from their own strips to the main RotR strip, there were also occasional "crossovers" between strips in the weekly comic — —for instance, in an early episode of The Legend, lead character and superstar player Agostina Da Silva was shown playing against Melchester.

Football Family Robinson" (1978-79, written by Tom Tully, drawn by Joe Colquhoun, John Gillatt, Sandy James) Both The Safest Hands in Soccer and Goalkeeper suffered occasional scheduling issues due to the health of artist Torta, occasionally having to skip instalments or, in one instance, be substituted with a text-only story. Then they changed it and it went much more true to life, the audience began to expect a more sophisticated storyline. Roy was the first comic book hero to get married and that had lots of support from the readers. Berkmann, Marcus (January 1989), "Roy of the Rovers", Your Sinclair, archived from the original on 16 September 2006

Roy of the Rovers Starter Pack!

September 1976– 20March 1993 as a weekly, relaunched as a monthly in September 1993 until March 1995 [1]

Originally published in The Fellrunner, the magazine of the Fell Runners Association (issue #126, spring 2020). Thank you for letting us share it. Roy Race’s character experienced various ups and downs throughout the series. Notable events include becoming a player-manager, getting married to Penny Laine, being shot, and losing his left foot in a helicopter crash. 7. Were any attempts to continue the story after the comic’s closure?

Roy of the Rovers: The £100 Million Game

In 2018, following the acquisition of the strip's rights by comic book publisher Rebellion, a brand new rebooted Roy of the Rovers story, following the adventures of a 16-year-old Roy in the present day, began publication as a series of original graphic novels and prose novels. Editor Derek Birnage took over writing the strip, and Paul Trevillion drawing it, in 1959. In 1964 the strip lost its permanent place on the cover of Tiger, alternating with other strips. Colquhoun returned as artist from 1965 to 67, when Yvonne Hutton replaced him, drawing it until autumn 1975, when she handed it over to David Sque. Tom Tully contributed occasional scripts from 1969, and became the regular writer in 1974, with occasional scripts being written by Scott Goodall. In 1970 Tiger introduced a second strip, "Roy Race's Schooldays". In 1975 Roy became Rovers' player-manager, and at the end of the 1975-76 season he married the club secretary, Penny Laine.

Roy Race has the world at his feet. He’s playing Premier League football, earning plenty of money, has a great girlfriend, and things are even looking up at home.Mighty Mouse was installed as the new Melchester Rovers manager in 2018 as seen in the new Roy of the Rovers strip in Match of the Day magazine. The strip ran until May 1990, returned in July of the same year, and finally came to an end in January 1993, with reprints appearing in the remaining issues of the weekly Roy of the Rovers comic. Acton, P.; Jarman, C. M. (1994), Roy of the Rovers: The Playing Years, Queen Anne Press, ISBN 978-1-85291-548-3 Roy of the Rovers stories – Match of the Day – May 2001", Roy of the Rovers.com, archived from the original on 7 December 2010 , retrieved 22 June 2010 He said: “I was at Tottenham’s training ground one day and Danny Blanchflower said to Bill Nicholson as Cliff Jones went past about three players: ‘He thinks he’s Roy of the Rovers.’ I couldn’t believe it. Then I was told that kids were writing in for Roy’s autograph.”