PODCAST · society
The British Football Comic Podcast
by Matt Richards
Join Matt, Gull, Paul, Neil and Ian as they take you back to the classic British football comics, from the 50's to the present time with stories such as of course "Roy of the Rovers", "We Are United" from the pages of "Champ", the "Football Picture Story Monthly" series and stories from "Tiger", "Scorcher", "Victor" such as "Billy's Boots" , "Hot-Shot Hamish" and "Bobby of the Blues" and more recently the on-going "Striker"....including many exclusive interviews with the former editors and creators!
Episodes
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Mark Towers - creator of the "Roy of The Rovers" website | Ep 140
In this special show we meet Mark Towers, "Roy of The Rovers" archivist and creator of the official "Roy of The Rovers" website back in the late 90's...it's great hearing about how Mark got into the comic and also how he created and ran the website. He also met with a lot of the creators and has...
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The Roy of The Rovers comic season 1988/89 | Ep 139
In this weeks show our Time-Traveller Golden Ian recalls the 1988/89 season in the "Roy of The Rovers' comic...what were his favourite stories this season? which ones didn't impress? and what did the merger with 'Hot-Shot" mean for the comic? We also do a Collectors Corner and hear about Bygone...
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The Roy of the Rovers comic season 1987/88 | Ep 138
This week we carry on Time Traveller Ian Golden's review of the "Roy of the Rovers" weekly comic seasons with a look at 1987/88. We also cover our attendance at Barrie Tomlinson's memorial event and the release of two exciting books, Ian's very own ROTR@50 and the new Football Picture Story…
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We meet Bob Bond, comic book artist! | Ep 137
In this episode we have the pleasure and honour of meeting Bob Bond, the artist and illustrator who did the fabulous caricature work which appeared in "The Valiant" "Tiger" and "Scorcher" during the late 60's and across the 70's, which we'd often also see in "Roy of The Rovers" Summer specials…
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A World Cup Special, No.3! | Ep 136
The third and final World Cup 2026 special sees us go back to 1994 and the "Roy of The Rovers" Monthly to tell the tale of when Paul Delroy Ntende ("Delroy of The Rovers") played for Nigeria in the 1994 World Cup in the USA. We cover the "Melchester Files" from 1987, and there is another World…
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A World Cup special, No.2! | Ep 135
Yes we're back with more football comic World Cup nostalgia! This week we review the 1982 "Roy of The Rovers" Summer Special which had a strong World Cup theme, we go through the "Goals of Jimmy Grant" story in the 1990 Victor annual when he played for England and we finally re-tell a "story"…
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"Stark" Mission in Mexico - a World Cup Special | Ep 134
This week there's a definite World Cup flavour in the show - Bygone Berrigan does a Judith Chalmers and takes us to Mexico, back to June 1986 when the very first "Football Picture Story Monthly" was published and tells us the story of when Jon Stark "Matchwinner for hire" appeared in the 1986…
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Roy of The Rovers comic season 1986/87 & The Blackie Gray story Pt 5 | Ep 133
This week Golden Ian, our resident Welsh Time Traveller takes us back to the eventful 1986/87 season in the comic - what new stories were introduced? Which ones were his favourites that year? And then Mute Button Matt gives us the next instalment of the "Blackie Gray Story" - we're into 1976...
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David and Goliath FPSM 75 & All-Action Monthly | Ep 132
This week our Welsh Time Traveller re-tells the story of "David and Goliath" from Football Picture Story Monthly 75, based upon a true story.......and Bygone Berrigan reviews an All-Action Monthly from 1987 remembering "Tallon of The Track" "Racey's Rocket" amongst others..
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Roy of The Rovers season 1985/86 & RIP Barrie | Ep 131
Episode 131 is a sad show to have to do. The first one since the passing of the comic book legend, and dear friend, Barrie Tomlinson. The guys share their thoughts and pay tribute to the great man. And of course thanks to the work of Barrie we have lots more football comic content to go through…
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The Roy of The Rovers comic season 1984/85 | Ep 130
Geoff Boycott is the new Melchester Rovers chairman...what impact will that have on the club? Are they entering a corridor/season of uncertainty? Tune in to find out! it is also week 23 in the "We Are United" story - is there another dream sequence look back?......and finally we have a very big...
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The Barrie Mitchell interview | Ep 129
Tangent and Mute-button give an update on their day trip down to the South coast, specifically to Portsmouth to meet former "Roy of The Rovers" editor Ian Vosper and then to interview legendary comic artist Barrie Mitchell...the man who drew "Jack and Jimmy", "Stark"- Matchwinner for hire,...
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"The Blackie Gray Story" Pt 4 & "We Are United" Wk 22 | Ep 128
Matt covers part 4 of the Blackie Gray story this week when he Roy and their girlfriends have a summer trip to Spain...what could possibly go wrong?.... Paul "Tangent" Richardson re-tells the story of week 22 of the "We Are United" story...and there are two special announcements this week, Ian...
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The Tiger Sports Library, The Blackie Gray story Pt 3 & "We Are United" Wk 21 | Ep 127
You've of course heard of the famous "Tiger" comic where "Roy of The Rovers" began and and "Billy's Boots", "Nipper" and "Hot-Shot Hamish" all graced the pages of.... but did you read or hear about the Tiger Sports Library? Bygone tells us about it this week...and what is happening in "We Are...
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The Roy of The Rovers comic - season 1983/84 | Ep 126
Big 1984 vibes this week...what were you doing then? listening to Frankie Goes to Hollywood? Prince? or maybe you were a miner on strike....anyway our Golden Time Traveller takes us back to the 1983/84 season in "Roy of The Rovers" when Roy came back from Walford...then Tangent takes us back to…
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The Roy of The Rovers comic - season 1982/83 | Ep 125
Another boring season in the "Roy of The Rovers" comic?...no definitely not! Ian takes us through the season when Roy joined another Rovers....Bygone has a look back at the very first Football Picture Story Monthly, the 2nd story in that edition "The Reject" and also from the pages of "Scorcher"...
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The Roy of The Rovers comic - season 1981/82 | Ep 124
He's back! Our Golden Time-Traveller Ian Golden is back from Australia and his Gola sponsored Tardis has landed in the 1981/82 season. What are his favourite strips in this momentous season in the comics' history?......We also discuss Mute-Button Matt's recent visit to the brilliant Barrie…
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The Blackie Gray Story Pt 2 | Ep 123
Tangent tells us about when two stories collided, when Melchester Rovers popped up in "City" in 1988. Bygone covers the Roy of The Rovers story from the 1989 Winter Special and Mute covers part 2 of the Blackie Gray story - when Melchester are in the European Cup Final and Blackie meets the...
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The Blackie Gray Story Pt 1 | Champ/We Are United Ep 122
Who is William Gray? When did he first meet Roy? What did he get for his birthday in 1955? Why was he at a circus? Did he set fire to Melchester Stadium?...all these questions and loads more will be answered if you tune into the first part of a five part biopic of this comic colossus....Plus has...
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WILL "UNITED" GO UP? | Champ/We Are United Ep 121
It's week 13 of the "We Are United" story in the pages of "Champ" comic and we've followed all their ups and downs. It's now the final game of the season against Cardsea City...will they do it? Tune in to find out! Plus Bygone shows us a special personalised copy of Roy of The Rovers and there's...
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A Christmas Special with Barrie Tomlinson! | Champ/We Are United Ep 120
He's back! Legendary IPC Comic Group Editor and of course editor of "Tiger" and editor and creator of the "Roy of The Rovers" comic, Barrie Tomlinson for this years Christmas Special! in this we go through the 1981 Tiger Xmas edition and the first ever Xmas Roy of The Rovers from 1976....enjoy!
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The 1988 Roy of The Rovers "Winter Special" | Champ/We Are United Ep 119
"Snow is falling, all around me, children playing having fun"...yes in the immortal words of Shakey we're moving into the Christmas season so what better to do than sit down with a Roy of the Rovers "Winter Special"? in this weeks episode Bygone takes us through the first one produced back in...
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A Pete Nash "Striker" special! | Champ/We Are United Ep 118
Creator of "Striker" and of course friend of the show, Pete Nash is back! He is here talking about his incredible new venture, utilising AI to produce new "Striker" content! it's an exciting, and perhaps controversial move, and here he is to tell us all about it and answer questions which some...
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The Roy of The Rovers comic - season 1979/80 & the "We Are United" story wk 11 | Champ/We Are United Ep 117
Yes it's season four of our Time Traveller Ian Golden's reviews of the Roy of The Rovers comic...1979/1980....what memories will this bring back for you? Tangent Paul carries on telling us the story of "We Are United" from the pages of Champ - and we have another Collectors Corner! Tune in!
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"Billy's Boots" - the stats! | Champ/We Are United Ep 116
How many goals did Billy Dane score? How many teams did he play for? And more importantly......how many times did he actually lose those bloomin' boots!!....find out all this and more as "Friend of the Show" Hamish Whitta (He's on Twitter - now X) has done a deep-dive analysis into this ....plus...
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The David Hunt Special! | Champ/We Are United Ep 115
David Hunt worked on Tiger in the early 60's then edited the very first football-only comic the famous "Scorcher", which of course brought us the famous stories "Billy's Boots" and "Hot-Shot Hamish" as well as many others, he then went on to edit the iconic war themed "Battle", "Speed", the...
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The Roy of the Rovers comic - season 1978/79 & the 1991 Victor Summer Special | Champ/We Are United Ep 114
More UK football comic nostalgia from men who have nothing better to do. Ian "Golden Boy" Golden takes us through season 3 of the Roy of the Rovers comic giving his view on the stories and Bygone Berrigan takes us through "The Goals of Jimmy Grant" from the pages of the 1991 Victor Summer Special…
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The Roy of The Rovers comic season 1977/78 & the 1980 Tiger Holiday Special | Champ/We Are United Ep 113
More football comic book fun! Ian Golden is back to take us through the 1977/78 season of the "Roy of The Rovers" comic...and Bygone covers the 1980 Tiger Holiday Special, including Billy's Boots, King of the Track and Hot-Shot Hamish.....enjoy!...there were a few technical video problems in this...
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The Roy of The Rovers comic - season 1976-77 | Champ/We Are United Ep 112
Join the gang as we are joined by regular contributor, Ian Golden, who has started to read from cover to cover all the "Roy of The Rovers" editions from number one in September 1976. onwards. This is his first review of that first season in the new self-titled comic. Plus we get an update on "We...
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Barrie Tomlinson is back! talking about Holiday Specials! | Champ/We Are United Ep 111
School's out for Summer! Yes it's school holiday time and what was better than picking up a special issue of your favourite comic to take away with you! Comic legend Barrie Tomlinson is back and in this episiode we reminisce about these specials and flick through a few, the 1976 Tiger Olympic...
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Billy Dane first plays cricket & the "We Are United" story wk 8 | Champ/We Are United Ep 110
When did Billy Dane first swap his Dead-Shot Keen football boots for Dead-Shot Keen's cricket boots??.... what is happening in the "We Are United" story? .....and what have the guys recently bought to add to their collections?...tune in and find out!
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A DC Thomson special with editors Bill Graham and Martin Lindsay! | Champ/We Are United Ep 109
Wow this is a VERY special episode. Today we met and chatted with two of the creators of the "We Are United" story in Champ...who also just happened to create the "Football Picture Story Monthlies". Both Bill and Martin worked for DC Thomson for over 40 years, on many many comics and it was a...
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The 1981 Roy of The Rovers Summer Special | Champ/We Are United Ep 108
Join the "boys" for some more nostalgic football comic fun....Tangent, Bygone and Mute-Button recall and review the 1981 "Roy of The Rovers" Summer Special and we have a Collectors Corner when we talk about our recent purchases......there's also a special appearance towards the end of the show...
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The Safest Hands In Soccer & Football in Doctor Who comics | Champ/We Are United Ep 107
A show with a difference this week! friend of the show Ian Golden is back to talk us through the times that football storylines appeared in Doctor Who comics.....plus we cover a "Safest Hands in Soccer" story from the 1979 Roy of The Rovers annual, and there's another Collectors Corner with some...
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Football Family Robinson, Hot-Shot Hamish & the "We Are United" story wk 7 | Champ/We Are United Ep 106
Join Tangent, Bygone and Mute as they cover more 70's and 80's football comic stories....Tangent updates us on the "We Are United" story in "Champ", Bygone re-tells the Hot-Shot Hamish story from the 1984 Tiger Holiday Special and Mute covers the iconic "Football Family Robinson" which first...
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Billy's Boots, the "We Are United" story wk 6 & Rocky Goes for Goal | Champ/We Are United Ep 105
Join Gull, Tangent, Bygone and Mute as they go back to the golden days of football comics...Tangent takes us through week 6 of "We Are United" from the pages of "Champ", Bygone re-tells a "Billy's Boots" story from the 1984 Tiger Holiday Special, and Mute reviews "Rocky Goes for Goal" the latest...
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A Mervyn Wallace special! | Champ/We Are United Ep 104
Join the Tangential One, Mute-Button, Gull (and Dot) as they recall the comic life of Melchester Rovers star Mervyn Wallace....how did he join Rovers? Did he win the 1976/77 Goal-Rush competition? Was he English? Was he Welsh? Was he coach? Did he end up as Rovers Manager?......listen/Watch and...
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A "We Are United" timeline | Champ/We Are United Ep 103
A special show today, with a special guest! We are joined by show listener, friend of the show, Ian Golden! He has created a timeline for the "United" story and in this show he presents it back to us, and you the listener (or viewer!). Listening in and watching are Gull, Ridders, Simmo, Bygone…
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Roy Race shot! Pt 2 & Billy's Boots | Champ/We Are United Ep 102
Roy Race has been shot! but who dunnit!? Arnie Meckiff? Arthur Logan? Elton Blake? Vic Guthrie or is it Trevor Brinsden....join Tangent Paul, Mute-Button Matt, Ridders, Bygone Berrigan and Simmo as they find out...plus hear about Ridders own fan-fiction project with new "United" stories and…
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Roy Race Shot! Pt 1 & the "We Are United" story wk 5 | Champ/We Are United Ep 101
They're back! still recovering from the after show party from the 100th show, Gull, Matt, Simmo and Neil take the show into it's second 100 shows! This week Simmo is up to week 5 of the "We Are United" story where we are introduced to an exciting young forward. And Matt does part 1 of the most...
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A celebration of the "Number 1 football comic podcast!" | Champ/We Are United Ep 100
100?!!.....yes 100....join Mute-button Matt, Gull, Tangent Paul, Bygone Berrigan, Simmo and Ridders (yes he's back!) as we celebrate reaching our 100th show with a look back over the previous 99...we've covered all-sorts, from Roy of The Rovers, to Riverton United, from Striker to Scorcher, Tubby...
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The Iron Man (Kline and Powell), Sammy Spangler, & the "We Are United" story wk 4 | Champ/We Are United Ep 99
Episode 99!!! join Gull, Simmo, Bygone, Mute and the Tangential One as they cover "The Iron Man" FPSM, continuing the adventures of Kline and Powell, we do the short comic life of "Sammy Spangler", Melchester Rovers big new discovery! and we also continue the story of United in "We Are United"…
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Jack & Jimmy, "Divided City" & the "We Are United" story wk 3 | Champ/We Are United Ep 98
98!! Yes those football comic guys are back, for another 2 hours of chatting about stuff which was published over 50 years ago, this is where you come for up to date podcast content! Simmo does week 3 of "We Are United" from the pages of "Champ", Bygone does FPSM 19 "Divided City" the first time…
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Melchester Rovers; the 1985 Cup Winners Cup final | Champ/We Are United Ep 97
Join the podcast gang as Tangent Paul finishes his review of the 1984/85 Melchester season as Rovers play in the Cup Winners Cup final, and listen out towards the end of the show for Simmo's week 2 of "We Are United" from the pages of "Champ"...
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The "We Are United" story - the beginning! plus Melchester Rovers 1984/85 CWC action | Champ/We Are United Ep 96
Join the team for another journey back to football comic world...Tangent does part 3 of Rovers 84/85 Cup Winners Cup campaign, Bygone talks to us about "Bullet" and the 1977 Sport Special and Simmo is back! he begins to tell the tale of "We Are United" from the very beginning...enjoy! Also on...
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A Christmas Special with Barrie Tomlinson | Champ/We Are United Ep 95
Join the team and legendary comic editor Barrie Tomlinson ( or is it Santa?) as they look back at the famous Christmas editions of "Tiger" and "Roy of The Rovers" from the 70s and 80s...hear about Morecambe and Wise, Mike Yarwood, Suzanne Dando, Nookie Bear....all the stars! Ho Ho Ho!
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Melchester's 1984/85 Cup Winners Cup run Pt 2 | Champ/We Are United Ep 94
More classic British football comic fun! Tangent Paul does part two of Melchester Rovers legendary 1984/85 season...Bygone Berrigan tells us about the "1972 Boys Birthday Book" and Mute-Button Matt re-tells a Christmas Hot-Shot Hamish story from the 1987 Tiger Annual...all expertly hosted by Gull!
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Melchester's 1984/85 Cup Winners Cup run Pt 1 | Champ/We Are United Ep 93
Join Paul, Neil and Matt on the "Number one football comic podcast"....this week we begin charting Melchester Rovers 1984/85 Cup Winners Cup campaign, we re-tell a "The Safest Hands in Soccer" annual story and we also talk about a little known "Roy of The Rovers" novel from 1977...or is it ?...
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Tommy's Troubles - the creation of Barnes United | Champ/We Are United Ep 92
Join Gull, Tangent Paul and Mute Button Matt as they do another "Collector's Corner" covering some strange missing copies of Tiger...and then they recall the famous story from Roy of The Rovers, "Tommy's Troubles" and how Tommy Barnes and his mates first formed Barnes United. Enjoy!
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From the Unofficial Greek Roy of The Rovers fan club - we meet Stratos and Nikos | Champ/We Are United Ep 91
In this special episode Matt, Paul and Neil meet Stratos and Nikos from the excellent Greek Unofficial Roy of The Rovers fan club, we talk about how the story reached Greece, when and in what format, how did they first start reading it themselves, we ask about the fan club and also recap some…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Join Matt, Gull, Paul, Neil and Ian as they take you back to the classic British football comics, from the 50's to the present time with stories such as of course "Roy of the Rovers", "We Are United" from the pages of "Champ", the "Football Picture Story Monthly" series and stories from "Tiger", "Scorcher", "Victor" such as "Billy's Boots" , "Hot-Shot Hamish" and "Bobby of the Blues" and more recently the on-going "Striker"....including many exclusive interviews with the former editors and creators!
HOSTED BY
Matt Richards
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The British Football Comic Podcast have?
The British Football Comic Podcast currently has 137 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The British Football Comic Podcast about?
Join Matt, Gull, Paul, Neil and Ian as they take you back to the classic British football comics, from the 50's to the present time with stories such as of course "Roy of the Rovers", "We Are United" from the pages of "Champ", the "Football Picture Story Monthly" series and stories from "Tiger",...
How often does The British Football Comic Podcast release new episodes?
The British Football Comic Podcast publishes regularly with 137 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The British Football Comic Podcast?
You can listen to The British Football Comic Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The British Football Comic Podcast?
The British Football Comic Podcast is created and hosted by Matt Richards.
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