Johnny Dexter - Dexter's Dozen

Upon moving to Burnside, Dexter began appearing in a new story entitled Dexter's Dozen. Barrie Tomlinson remained the writer, but Mike White took over as the artist, using a much more realistic style than the comedic art which had been seen in The Hard Man. This was in keeping with the initial tone of the new story, which eschewed comedy in favour of a serious depiction of the struggles of the lowly club. Soon, however, the tone shifted somewhat, as Boskovic was re-introduced, taking over as Burnside's manager and once again displaying his trademark antics, including making the team wear clown costumes during the half-time interval of a match where they were performing especially poorly, and making them train atop a huge piece of apparatus resembling an assault course, going so far as to push players off the top into a vat full of water if they under-performed. The strip ran for only one season, during which Dexter was able to lead his new club to promotion, with the final episode appearing in the comic dated 16 August 1986.