Roy of The Rovers - Recurring Characteristics

Recurring Characteristics

Over the years, the strip became famous for its employment of certain types of storyline and stylistic storytelling devices. For example, despite the fast-paced nature of a football match, exposition would be provided by members of the crowd apparently commenting to one another. Fans made lengthy comments in the short time it took the ball to travel through the air; as the ball was struck towards the goal a member of the crowd might be seen saying "Racey's had a shot!", followed by another responding "The 'keeper won't make it!". Nonetheless, loyal readers would usually suspend disbelief, a characteristic later parodied by Viz magazine's Billy the Fish, a fish with a human head who plays in goal for Fulchester United.

The portrayal of Rovers' successive victories mirrors British postwar views on other nations: they are unfit, tactically unaware, lacking in nerve, and only approach victory by playing under blazing sunshine, or fielding physical mutants.

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In the interests of keeping the strip exciting, it seemed that no season for Melchester Rovers could ever consist of mid-table obscurity. Almost every year, the club was either competing for the major honours at the top of the domestic and European game, or struggling against relegation to lower divisions. Often, such spells of good and bad fortune and form would directly succeed one another—a Rovers team that won the European Cup one year could find itself struggling to stay in Division One the next.

Storylines often centred on new signings who were unable to settle easily in the Melchester team, either because they refused to change their style of play and expected the Rovers to play around them, such as the uncomprisingly tough defender Duncan McKay, or had personal characteristics that made it difficult for the other players to accept them, such as ex-circus ball juggler Sammy Spangler. As the average reader probably stayed with the comic for only three or four years, many storylines were recycled. For instance, during the first ten years of his playing career Roy was kidnapped at least five times.

When playing foreign teams, particularly in the European club competitions, the opposition would often cynically employ overt gamesmanship or downright dirty tactics. Continental sides were considered to be "sneaky":

If they went ahead, they didn't try to extend their lead, like proper footballers, but defended, like blackguards and cowards. It was, Roy always believed, something of a character defect, probably caused by the pencil-thin moustaches they wore, in order to distinguish themselves as foreign.

The strip followed the structure of the football season, thus there were several months each year when the Rovers were not playing football, but the strip needed to depict something more exciting than the players going on holiday and then reporting for pre-season training. As a result, the players tended to spend their summers involved in activities such as competing in charity cricket tournaments, but by far the most common summer storyline saw the Rovers go on tour to a fictional country in an exotic part of the world, normally South America, where they would invariably be kidnapped and held to ransom. "Melchester played more pre-season games at gunpoint deep in the jungle than they ever did in more mundane settings." The summer would often also see Roy fending off lucrative offers to leave Melchester, as in 1978, when the Sheik of Basran, an oil-rich Middle-Eastern state, offered him £1 million to coach the national team.

Another notable feature of the strip, especially during the 1980s, was that real-life personalities often made appearances. Former Division One stars Bob Wilson and Emlyn Hughes were brought out of retirement to play for Melchester in 1985, along with longtime fans of the strip Martin Kemp and Steve Norman, of the pop group Spandau Ballet. Geoff Boycott served for several years as Melchester's chairman, and Sir Alf Ramsey had briefly taken over as manager of Melchester in 1982, while Roy lay in his coma. Players such as Malcolm Macdonald and Trevor Francis would sometimes line up alongside Roy in England matches, despite the fact that the clubs they played for in real life were never featured in the strip.

The concept of TV pundits and anchormen making appearances, was a later development. When Roy announced his resignation as Rovers manager in 1992, he did so live on Sky Sports in front of shocked presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray.