Melchester Rovers
Encyclopedia
Melchester Rovers are a fictional football
team with whom Roy Race
spent most of his illustrious career in the British
comic strip Roy of the Rovers
, which first appeared in Tiger
at its inception in 1954.
strip appeared, telling the story of the club and its star striker Roy Race (whose grandfather, Billy Race, had played for the club in the early part of the 20th Century). Melchester finally became League Champions in 1958, and won the FA Cup
the following season, by which time Race was captain.
s, two European Cup
s, one European Cup Winners' Cup and one Intercontinental Cup
. It wasn't a decade without its problems, though, and in an example of the topsy-turvy nature of the history that would follow, Rovers only narrowly avoided relegation at the end of 1967, the same year they won the Cup Winners' Cup.
", and later that year, long-serving team manager Ben Galloway was promoted upstairs to General Manager, with former Rovers winger Tony Storme taking over team affairs. His tenure began well, with a third European Cup win in 1973, and Rovers began the next season with an all-new, modern strip and a strong sense of optimism. Poor results and a spate of injuries, however, meant a demoralising first half of the season, with many of the team believing the new kit was "jinxed". Happily, this was overcome, and despite a disappointing league season, achieved their first domestic cup double, winning the League Cup
in addition to another FA Cup. In 1975, though, a humiliating defeat in the 3rd Round of the Cup to non-league minnows Sleeford Town led to the disappearance of manager Tony Storme. Roy Race took over as player-manager, and kept the post when Storme came out of hiding some months later and made his retirement official. Race's Melchester won a trophy at their first attempt, the 1975 Cup Winners' Cup. The first title under Roy came two years later, in 1977, the season in which a supermarket chain offered a (then) staggering £30,000 to the first player in England to score 50 League and Cup goals. The competition went down to the last day of the season, and was won by Mervyn Wallace, despite many fans' belief that Race himself had got the last touch on what would have been his 50th goal. Controversy reigned in 1978, when it was rumoured that Race was due to accept a £1million offer to take over as team manager of Middle-Eastern state Basran. Rovers' form slumped, and Ben Galloway temporarily took back over as manager. However, once the rumours were quashed, Roy was reinstated and Rovers pulled themselves out of the relegation zone, the 1978–79 season ending in style with a UEFA Cup
win.
's Dream Team
. Melchester were League Champions in 1979–80 but were relegated to Division Two by one goal just one year later. The 1981–82 season saw a potential tragedy when Roy was shot by a jealous actor, Elton Blake, who was due to play him in a TV series about the club. Rovers set a new league goal-scoring record – 14–0 against Keysborough – an event that saw Roy recover from his coma when the commentary was played in the hospital. Sir Alf Ramsey managed the club during this period and helped Rovers to set a new league record of 34 games undefeated and comfortably win the Second Division. Roy recovered to start the 1982–83 season where Mel Park becomes Britain's first all-seater stadium. However, in April 1983 Roy sensationally quit Melchester after a row with Rovers chairman Sam Barlow and signed for Walford Rovers. Blackie Gray was appointed new player-manager, but his reign was short-lived, as Roy returned in December 1983 and led an injury-ravaged Rovers to an unlikely FA Cup win over Walford. They followed up this dramatic FA Cup win with an equally dramatic European Cup-Winners' Cup victory on penalties against Real Santana of Spain in 1985 (Rovers would not reappear in Europe for another five years due to English clubs being banned). The following season was an eventful one, as Roy shook up the team by signing retired players turned TV pundits Bob Wilson and Emlyn Hughes
, as well as two members of pop group Spandau Ballet
! Rovers won the Milk Cup
, beating Tynecaster 3–0 and set a new league record of 12 consecutive games without conceding a goal, but in the close season, the club faced its biggest tragedy ever when a terrorist bomb in Basran killed eight team members – Noel Baxter, Vic Guthrie, Steve Naylor, Carl Hunt, Neville Jones, Kenny Logan, Jimmy Slade and Trevor Cassidy. Roy dedicated Rovers' 2–1 Littlewoods Cup Final win over Stambridge City in 1987 to those players. 1987–88 saw the club become League Champions once again, but they were fighting relegation in 1988–89 during a season that saw them play most of their home matches at Wembley Stadium after massive local subsidence during a match led to Mel Park being closed for major reconstruction. Rovers avoided relegation with a 3–1 win over Melboro' in the season's final match.
). 1992–93 saw a season of turmoil when Roy resigned as manager live on Sky TV. He returned before the end of the season, but on the way to scout a promising youth player, crashed his helicopter and was left in a coma and badly injured. He recovered in time for the 1993–94 season, but learned that his left foot had been amputated. Recovering, he left England to become manager of Italian side AC Monza. With his departure, Rovers' fortunes became bleaker, occasional moments of brilliance from players such as Roy's son "Rocky" Race and the Nigerian Paul "Del" Ntende shining among the troubles, which included now-manager Blackie Gray resigning after receiving death threats, and the club only narrowly avoiding relegation in the 1993/94 season, with Rocky scoring a last-minute goal to save them. However, soon after that match a Melchester Director was found guilty of attempting to bribe the opposition to throw the game. They won the FA Cup in 1995 but, after the death of Rocky's mother Penny in a car crash in Italy, Rocky quit Rovers to join fierce local rivals Melborough. 1995–96 was a complete disaster for Rovers as more top players left after a bribery scandal shamed the club, and they were relegated at the end of the season into Division One. In 1996–97, Roy Race Sr. returned to manage the club, and arrived in time to save the Rovers from an impending second successive relegation. In 1997–98, Rovers finished the season fourth in Division One but won in the play-offs to gain promotion back to the Premier League. Following Rocky's transfer back to the club, they won the 1999 FA Cup in extra time, and the turnaround was complete in 1999–2000, when they won the Premier League title on the last day of the season, their first top-flight title in eight years and their most recent to date. The following season, Race was finally able to buy out the club's owners, the Vitner brothers, and the club began to look forward to the new millennium, with a planned move to an exciting new stadium under the ownership of their greatest hero.
Melchester Rovers' colours have always involved some combination of red and yellow, although as with real life professional teams, their precise shirt designs have varied considerably over the years.
When the comic was first introduced, the club played in plain red shirts with yellow sleeves, and navy blue shorts. This strip persisted for many years, until a dramatic new look was introduced in 1973. This involved an all-red strip, with a yellow vertical stripe running down one side of the shirt, one on the other side of the shorts, and a yellow "T"-shape on the socks. In addition, the shirts uniquely featured the players' numbers on one sleeve. This kit was worn until 1981, when Rovers were relegated to the Second Division, and switched back to a more conventional, symmetrical design. This shirt featured yellow bands across the chest, waist and sleeves, and would remain until 1986, when following the drastic rebuilding of the team a fresh new kit was introduced, this time all-red with a narrow yellow stripe running down each side. Then in 1991, a competition was held for Roy of the Rovers
readers to design a new kit for the team. The winning entry was a simple and classic combination of yellow and red stripes with red shorts. Variations on this kit (sometimes using more yellow than red) would continue to be used until the end of the weekly comic, and for the duration of the subsequent monthly one. However, when ROTR strips returned in Match of the Day Magazine in 1997, a new kit had been introduced. Unusually, this kit was predominantly yellow, with a large red star motif across the chest and back. This strip did not last long, however, as the following season another strip appeared. This was again all-red, with yellow trim, and a predominant yellow "V" shape across the front and back of the shirt. This was the last kit that Melchester have been seen to play in.
Away strips were not seen very often in the ROTR comic, but three main designs were used, particularly in the 1980s – a plain blue shirt with white shorts and red socks, a yellow shirt with a red stripe running down its side with yellow shorts with a red line running down its other side and an all-white kit that also sometimes employed red socks. After 1992, Rovers away kits would generally be all-white with some combination of yellow and red trim, and in the Match of the Day strips the same design as the home kit, in white and red, was used.
As in real football, shirt sponsorship logos were non existent prior to the 1980s, and when eventually introduced to the strip, their use was intermittent. The first genuine commercial logo, that of Gola
appeared on the new kit in 1981 but disappeared the subsequent year. The 1986 kit first appeared with Nike
branding, but again this would be removed after one season. The shirts were blank for a while, but in the last couple of years saw the comic's publishers Panini
and Fleetway
used. When the striped kit was introduced in 1992, meanwhile, it featured Sega
as the sponsors. This deal only lasted for a season, however, and for the last season portrayed by the weekly comic TSB
appeared on the shirts. This deal carried over to the monthly comic, after which for a short time the shirts were again sponsorless, before a deal with Subbuteo
saw that brand appear for the final few issues. The predominantly yellow kit introduced in Match of the Day magazine saw MotD itself as the sponsor, only to be replaced by McDonald's
after only two episodes. This latter instance marked perhaps the first time Melchester's shirts made use of appropriate corporate colours!
For much of the story's history, Rovers' traditional local rivals were Melborough (sometimes shortened to Melboro). For decades, Melchester held the upper hand over their cross-city neighbours, but in later years Melborough became a major force and were in a higher division than Rovers in the late 1990s. Melborough often had outspoken managers, most notably Andy Jackson and Ralph Gordon (who made an ill-fated and unpopular switch to Rovers in 1992), to help intensify the rivalries.
The monthly comic (1993–95) changed the sides Rovers played, basing them on real-life clubs (Toxteth being Liverpool; Prestwich North End replacing Manchester United etc). The comic featured Melchester City as ambitious Football League newcomers who believed they could ultimately compete with Rovers. However, they did not reappear in any future Roy of the Rovers storylines, and nor did the other sides Rovers faced in this period.
William "Blackie" Gray Geoff Giles Dave Williams Jim Hallett Bob Roberts Bomber Reeves Buster Brown Tony Storme Ossie Jones "Lofty" Peak "Tubby" Morton "Jumbo" Trudgeon Mervyn Wallace Charlie "The Cat" Carter Vic "Superbrat" Guthrie Paco Diaz Vernon Eliot Nat "Grandad" Gosden Martin Kemp Steve Norman
Bob Wilson Emlyn Hughes
Duncan McKay Johnny "The Hard Man" Dexter
Steve "Nobby" Wootten Andy MacLaren Karl Bruckner Paul "Del" Ntende Roy "Rocky" Race Jr. Roberto Angel Munoz ("Malandro")
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team with whom Roy Race
Roy Race
Roy Race is a fictional character from the British comic strip Roy of the Rovers. He is a professional footballer who plays for, and later manages, Melchester Rovers in the First Division and the Premier League.-Fictional biography:...
spent most of his illustrious career in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comic strip Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers...
, which first appeared in Tiger
Tiger (comic)
Tiger was a British comic magazine published from 1954 to 1985. The comic was launched under the editorship of Derek Birnage on 11 September 1954, under the name Tiger – The Sport and Adventure Picture Story Weekly, and featured predominantly sporting strips...
at its inception in 1954.
Early years
According to the comic strip's continuity, Melchester Rovers were founded in 1885 winning at least three League Championships and a number of FA Cups during the pre-war years of their existence. In 1954, however, the first Roy of the RoversRoy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers...
strip appeared, telling the story of the club and its star striker Roy Race (whose grandfather, Billy Race, had played for the club in the early part of the 20th Century). Melchester finally became League Champions in 1958, and won the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
the following season, by which time Race was captain.
1960s
It was in the 1960s, however, that Rovers became a footballing force to be reckoned with. The decade brought three league titles, two FA CupFA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
s, two European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
s, one European Cup Winners' Cup and one Intercontinental Cup
Intercontinental Cup (football)
The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the World Club Championship, Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores...
. It wasn't a decade without its problems, though, and in an example of the topsy-turvy nature of the history that would follow, Rovers only narrowly avoided relegation at the end of 1967, the same year they won the Cup Winners' Cup.
1970s
In 1972, Rovers achieved their first – and currently only – League and Cup "DoubleThe Double
The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...
", and later that year, long-serving team manager Ben Galloway was promoted upstairs to General Manager, with former Rovers winger Tony Storme taking over team affairs. His tenure began well, with a third European Cup win in 1973, and Rovers began the next season with an all-new, modern strip and a strong sense of optimism. Poor results and a spate of injuries, however, meant a demoralising first half of the season, with many of the team believing the new kit was "jinxed". Happily, this was overcome, and despite a disappointing league season, achieved their first domestic cup double, winning the League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
in addition to another FA Cup. In 1975, though, a humiliating defeat in the 3rd Round of the Cup to non-league minnows Sleeford Town led to the disappearance of manager Tony Storme. Roy Race took over as player-manager, and kept the post when Storme came out of hiding some months later and made his retirement official. Race's Melchester won a trophy at their first attempt, the 1975 Cup Winners' Cup. The first title under Roy came two years later, in 1977, the season in which a supermarket chain offered a (then) staggering £30,000 to the first player in England to score 50 League and Cup goals. The competition went down to the last day of the season, and was won by Mervyn Wallace, despite many fans' belief that Race himself had got the last touch on what would have been his 50th goal. Controversy reigned in 1978, when it was rumoured that Race was due to accept a £1million offer to take over as team manager of Middle-Eastern state Basran. Rovers' form slumped, and Ben Galloway temporarily took back over as manager. However, once the rumours were quashed, Roy was reinstated and Rovers pulled themselves out of the relegation zone, the 1978–79 season ending in style with a UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
win.
1980s
The 1980s were full of drama with many events of a "soap opera" style, the sort that would eventually inspire series like Sky OneSky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
's Dream Team
Dream Team (TV series)
Dream Team is a British television series produced by Hewland International which aired on Sky1 and Sky3 from 1997 to 2007; it chronicled the on-field and off-field affairs of the fictional Harchester United Football Club....
. Melchester were League Champions in 1979–80 but were relegated to Division Two by one goal just one year later. The 1981–82 season saw a potential tragedy when Roy was shot by a jealous actor, Elton Blake, who was due to play him in a TV series about the club. Rovers set a new league goal-scoring record – 14–0 against Keysborough – an event that saw Roy recover from his coma when the commentary was played in the hospital. Sir Alf Ramsey managed the club during this period and helped Rovers to set a new league record of 34 games undefeated and comfortably win the Second Division. Roy recovered to start the 1982–83 season where Mel Park becomes Britain's first all-seater stadium. However, in April 1983 Roy sensationally quit Melchester after a row with Rovers chairman Sam Barlow and signed for Walford Rovers. Blackie Gray was appointed new player-manager, but his reign was short-lived, as Roy returned in December 1983 and led an injury-ravaged Rovers to an unlikely FA Cup win over Walford. They followed up this dramatic FA Cup win with an equally dramatic European Cup-Winners' Cup victory on penalties against Real Santana of Spain in 1985 (Rovers would not reappear in Europe for another five years due to English clubs being banned). The following season was an eventful one, as Roy shook up the team by signing retired players turned TV pundits Bob Wilson and Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Walter Hughes, OBE was an English footballer who captained both the England national team and the much-decorated Liverpool F.C. team of the 1970s.- From Blackpool to Liverpool :...
, as well as two members of pop group Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
! Rovers won the Milk Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
, beating Tynecaster 3–0 and set a new league record of 12 consecutive games without conceding a goal, but in the close season, the club faced its biggest tragedy ever when a terrorist bomb in Basran killed eight team members – Noel Baxter, Vic Guthrie, Steve Naylor, Carl Hunt, Neville Jones, Kenny Logan, Jimmy Slade and Trevor Cassidy. Roy dedicated Rovers' 2–1 Littlewoods Cup Final win over Stambridge City in 1987 to those players. 1987–88 saw the club become League Champions once again, but they were fighting relegation in 1988–89 during a season that saw them play most of their home matches at Wembley Stadium after massive local subsidence during a match led to Mel Park being closed for major reconstruction. Rovers avoided relegation with a 3–1 win over Melboro' in the season's final match.
1990s
Rovers started the decade well by winning the 1990 FA Cup Final, 2–1 against Weston Villa. They were League Champions in 1991–92 while Roy set a new league goal-scoring record, notching up his 436th goal to win a charity bet with former record-holder and now TV pundit "Chippy" Croker (an obvious analogue for Jimmy GreavesJimmy Greaves
James Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves is an English former football player, England's third highest international goalscorer, the highest goalscorer in the history of Tottenham Hotspur football club, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football and more recently a television pundit -...
). 1992–93 saw a season of turmoil when Roy resigned as manager live on Sky TV. He returned before the end of the season, but on the way to scout a promising youth player, crashed his helicopter and was left in a coma and badly injured. He recovered in time for the 1993–94 season, but learned that his left foot had been amputated. Recovering, he left England to become manager of Italian side AC Monza. With his departure, Rovers' fortunes became bleaker, occasional moments of brilliance from players such as Roy's son "Rocky" Race and the Nigerian Paul "Del" Ntende shining among the troubles, which included now-manager Blackie Gray resigning after receiving death threats, and the club only narrowly avoiding relegation in the 1993/94 season, with Rocky scoring a last-minute goal to save them. However, soon after that match a Melchester Director was found guilty of attempting to bribe the opposition to throw the game. They won the FA Cup in 1995 but, after the death of Rocky's mother Penny in a car crash in Italy, Rocky quit Rovers to join fierce local rivals Melborough. 1995–96 was a complete disaster for Rovers as more top players left after a bribery scandal shamed the club, and they were relegated at the end of the season into Division One. In 1996–97, Roy Race Sr. returned to manage the club, and arrived in time to save the Rovers from an impending second successive relegation. In 1997–98, Rovers finished the season fourth in Division One but won in the play-offs to gain promotion back to the Premier League. Following Rocky's transfer back to the club, they won the 1999 FA Cup in extra time, and the turnaround was complete in 1999–2000, when they won the Premier League title on the last day of the season, their first top-flight title in eight years and their most recent to date. The following season, Race was finally able to buy out the club's owners, the Vitner brothers, and the club began to look forward to the new millennium, with a planned move to an exciting new stadium under the ownership of their greatest hero.
Colours and kits
When the comic was first introduced, the club played in plain red shirts with yellow sleeves, and navy blue shorts. This strip persisted for many years, until a dramatic new look was introduced in 1973. This involved an all-red strip, with a yellow vertical stripe running down one side of the shirt, one on the other side of the shorts, and a yellow "T"-shape on the socks. In addition, the shirts uniquely featured the players' numbers on one sleeve. This kit was worn until 1981, when Rovers were relegated to the Second Division, and switched back to a more conventional, symmetrical design. This shirt featured yellow bands across the chest, waist and sleeves, and would remain until 1986, when following the drastic rebuilding of the team a fresh new kit was introduced, this time all-red with a narrow yellow stripe running down each side. Then in 1991, a competition was held for Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers...
readers to design a new kit for the team. The winning entry was a simple and classic combination of yellow and red stripes with red shorts. Variations on this kit (sometimes using more yellow than red) would continue to be used until the end of the weekly comic, and for the duration of the subsequent monthly one. However, when ROTR strips returned in Match of the Day Magazine in 1997, a new kit had been introduced. Unusually, this kit was predominantly yellow, with a large red star motif across the chest and back. This strip did not last long, however, as the following season another strip appeared. This was again all-red, with yellow trim, and a predominant yellow "V" shape across the front and back of the shirt. This was the last kit that Melchester have been seen to play in.
Away strips were not seen very often in the ROTR comic, but three main designs were used, particularly in the 1980s – a plain blue shirt with white shorts and red socks, a yellow shirt with a red stripe running down its side with yellow shorts with a red line running down its other side and an all-white kit that also sometimes employed red socks. After 1992, Rovers away kits would generally be all-white with some combination of yellow and red trim, and in the Match of the Day strips the same design as the home kit, in white and red, was used.
As in real football, shirt sponsorship logos were non existent prior to the 1980s, and when eventually introduced to the strip, their use was intermittent. The first genuine commercial logo, that of Gola
Gola (manufacturer)
Gola is a sporting goods manufacturer based in England. It was founded on 22 May 1905, in Leicester, England. Gola was purchased by the Jacobson Group and has since expanded its range drastically....
appeared on the new kit in 1981 but disappeared the subsequent year. The 1986 kit first appeared with Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
branding, but again this would be removed after one season. The shirts were blank for a while, but in the last couple of years saw the comic's publishers Panini
Panini Comics
Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, best known for their collectible stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy...
and Fleetway
Fleetway
Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a UK publishing company which mainly produced comic magazines. For a time owned by IPC Media, they are now a division of Egmont Publishing....
used. When the striped kit was introduced in 1992, meanwhile, it featured Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
as the sponsors. This deal only lasted for a season, however, and for the last season portrayed by the weekly comic TSB
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...
appeared on the shirts. This deal carried over to the monthly comic, after which for a short time the shirts were again sponsorless, before a deal with Subbuteo
Subbuteo
Subbuteo is a set of table top games simulating team sports such as association football, cricket, both codes of rugby and hockey. The name is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as "the replica of Association Football".The "Subbuteo" name is derived...
saw that brand appear for the final few issues. The predominantly yellow kit introduced in Match of the Day magazine saw MotD itself as the sponsor, only to be replaced by McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
after only two episodes. This latter instance marked perhaps the first time Melchester's shirts made use of appropriate corporate colours!
Honours
Note that all records are fictional, and only date as far as 2000, the last completed season of the comic strip.- First DivisionFootball League First DivisionThe First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
and Premier LeagueFA Premier LeagueThe Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
titles : 13- 1932, 1934, 1938, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1977, 1980, 1988, 1992, 2000.
- Football League Second DivisionFootball League Second DivisionFrom 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
: 1- 1982
- FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
s: 11- 1907, 1959, 1961, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1984, 1990, 1995, 1999
- League CupFootball League CupThe Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
s: 3- 1974, 1986, 1987
- European CupUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
s: 3- 1964, 1969, 1973
- UEFA CupUEFA CupThe UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
s: 1- 1979
- European Cup Winners' Cups: 4
- 1967, 1971, 1975, 1985
Opponents and rivalries
Although throughout Roy Race's playing career there was never a definitive list published of who the other teams in the First Division were, the majority of sides Rovers played against were familiar names who they opposed regularly in later years. These included: Blackport, Burndean, Carford City, Castlemere, Danefield, Deans Park, Eastoke, Gatesfield, Holverton, Kelburn, Kingsbay, Melborough, North Vale, Oldfield, Portdean, Redstoke, Stambridge City, Tynecaster, Walford Rovers (who Roy managed in 1983) and Weston Villa (also known as Western Villa). There were also several lower league sides who Rovers met in cup football and their occasional stints outside the top-flight, as well as foreign teams in European matches.For much of the story's history, Rovers' traditional local rivals were Melborough (sometimes shortened to Melboro). For decades, Melchester held the upper hand over their cross-city neighbours, but in later years Melborough became a major force and were in a higher division than Rovers in the late 1990s. Melborough often had outspoken managers, most notably Andy Jackson and Ralph Gordon (who made an ill-fated and unpopular switch to Rovers in 1992), to help intensify the rivalries.
The monthly comic (1993–95) changed the sides Rovers played, basing them on real-life clubs (Toxteth being Liverpool; Prestwich North End replacing Manchester United etc). The comic featured Melchester City as ambitious Football League newcomers who believed they could ultimately compete with Rovers. However, they did not reappear in any future Roy of the Rovers storylines, and nor did the other sides Rovers faced in this period.
Notable players
Roy RaceRoy Race
Roy Race is a fictional character from the British comic strip Roy of the Rovers. He is a professional footballer who plays for, and later manages, Melchester Rovers in the First Division and the Premier League.-Fictional biography:...
William "Blackie" Gray Geoff Giles Dave Williams Jim Hallett Bob Roberts Bomber Reeves Buster Brown Tony Storme Ossie Jones "Lofty" Peak "Tubby" Morton "Jumbo" Trudgeon Mervyn Wallace Charlie "The Cat" Carter Vic "Superbrat" Guthrie Paco Diaz Vernon Eliot Nat "Grandad" Gosden Martin Kemp Steve Norman
Steve Norman
Steve Norman is an English musician who plays saxophone, guitar, percussion, and other instruments, for Spandau Ballet.-Early career:Steve Norman was initially a guitarist in the group with Gary Kemp...
Bob Wilson Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Walter Hughes, OBE was an English footballer who captained both the England national team and the much-decorated Liverpool F.C. team of the 1970s.- From Blackpool to Liverpool :...
Duncan McKay Johnny "The Hard Man" Dexter
Johnny Dexter
Johnny Dexter was a fictional footballer who appeared in three different comic strips in the British boys' comic Roy of the Rovers during the 1970s, 80s and 90s...
Steve "Nobby" Wootten Andy MacLaren Karl Bruckner Paul "Del" Ntende Roy "Rocky" Race Jr. Roberto Angel Munoz ("Malandro")
Managers
- Ben Galloway (up to 1973)
- Tony Storme (1973–1975)
- Roy RaceRoy RaceRoy Race is a fictional character from the British comic strip Roy of the Rovers. He is a professional footballer who plays for, and later manages, Melchester Rovers in the First Division and the Premier League.-Fictional biography:...
(1975–1978) - Ben Galloway (1978)
- Roy Race (1978–1982)
- Sir Alf Ramsey (1982 – caretaker)
- Roy Race (1982–1983)
- Blackie Gray (1983)
- Roy Race (1983–1992)
- Mervyn Wallace (1992 – caretaker)
- Ralph Gordon (1992–1993)
- Roy Race (1993)
- Mervyn Wallace (1993 – caretaker)
- Blackie Gray (1993–1995)
- Mervyn Wallace (1995 – caretaker)
- Roy Race (1996 – )