Champ/We Are United

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...

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 recent purchases from the Melvster himself!

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 appeared in "Jag" , then "Tiger" and eventually "Roy of The Rovers"...plus another Collectors Corner - enjoy!

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 "Soccer Diaries" book. Hosted by Gull - enjoy!

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 find out! Plus some more Collectors Corner stuff...enjoy!

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 and Mute-Button....enjoy!

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 there's also a "Billy's Boots" story from the 1985 Tiger Holiday special - enjoy!Here is the link to Ridders "We Are United" fan-fiction "We are back" https://www.wattpad.com/story/390484980-fpsm-419-we-are-back-a-united-story

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 famous story ever from the pages of "Roy of The Rovers"....I'm not saying what it is as you can tell from the title of this pod and the cover photo....

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 Morton to Tug Wilson, Billy's Boots to Bobby of the Blues and Hot-Shot Hamish to Hedgehog Jones and many more...we've had many hosts, interviewed fellow football comic fans and been blessed to interview our comic heroes...here is a look back at it all including some very special messages...enjoy!

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" - a few technical problems in this show so apologies...but it all adds to the, er, excitement...enjoy!

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 we meet Kline and Powell and Mute Button tells us about "Jack of United" and "Jimmy of City" from the pages of "Score 'n' Roar". Superbly hosted by Gull and the background chuckles are from Tangent Paul...a good team effort!

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"...

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 YouTube https://youtu.be/Z-rmGgj0TJ8

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!

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!

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 ? ...Find out more, have a listen!

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!

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 Greek related storylines over the years.

It's February 1983.....Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister.....Kajagoogoo are number one with "Too Shy"...Liverpool are on their way to another league championship...in Sedgefield a young Tony Blair is attempting to become an MP......and a young Malcolm Dickenson decides to enter a competition in "Roy of The Rovers" to win a 2 week holiday in Disneyworld Florida....listen to what happens next!

Join Gull, Matt, Paul and Neil as they travel once more back to the past world of UK football comics! Bygone Berrigan recalls the tale of when a very young Gordon Stewart met Roy Race...Tangent Paul talks us through the famous signing of superstar striker Kevin Nicklish for United, "Gull has issues" covers Hot-Shot, and Matt tells us about a couple more times Roy Race went in goal...all this and more!

A very different episode! Brett and Karsh talk about one of Brett's "other" hobbies, his creation....The Parkrun 92 Club Challenge! tune in to find out more!

Join Bygone Berrigan, Gull and Mute Button Matt as they recall a couple of stories from the 1985 Roy of The Rovers annual and the FPSM story "Ghost Striker"...plus Gull has a new feature, this time on Scream! Enjoy!

Join Matt, Paul and Neil to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the very first "Tiger" comic, the first time the world ever saw Roy Race, and to do so we talk to comic legends Barrie Tomlinson and David Sque about how previous anniversaries were marked and commemorated within the pages of "Tiger" and "Roy of The Rovers".

Join us and legendary comic book writer, creator and editor, Barrie Tomlinson as we go back to 1954, find out what he was doing, what music, TV, film and other comics were popular, then we page by page go through the first ever Tiger comic, then finally pay homage to the people who created this iconic comic and created Roy Race and Roy of The Rovers

Join Bygone Berrigan, Tangent Richardson and Mute Button Matt as they delve again into the world of football comics! Bygone takes us through a story from the 1985 Victor annual, Matt goes over the conflicting stories of Roy Race's schooldays, and finally Tangent takes us through the final ever “Striker” volume 26!

Join Matt, Simmo and Tangent Paul as they dive back into the world of football comics! In this weeks show Matt re-tells the tale of "The Footballer Who Wouldn't Stay Dead" and Paul begins to review "Striker" volume 26, the end game. *Spoiler alert* if you haven't read the Striker book yet and want to avoid spoilers then we discuss it from 14 mins - 34 mins....Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/@Champweareunited

Join "Mute Button" Matt Richards and Paul "Tangent" Richardson as they dive back into the niche world of UK football comics! This week Matt tells us about the comic life of Vernon Eliot, that Melchester Rovers favourite..hosted by Tangent - let's see if we can stick to the script (there's never a script).

Join Gull, Bygone Berrigan and Mute Button Matt as they cover Football Picture Story Monthly no.53 "Rags to Riches" a "United" story, and they also replay the "Nipper" and "Bobby of the Blues" stories from the 1977 Scorcher annual.

Another football comic extravaganza! Join Tangent Paul, Simmo, Gull and Matt as we start going through the 1977 "Scorcher" annual, replaying Billy's Boots and Hot-Shot Hamish...and we also cover "Playmaker" and "Striker" from the pages of the short-lived "Hot-Shot"

How many times did we see Roy Race play for England? listen to the boys discuss this...also Bygone Berrigan takes us through "The Brothers" from Football Picture Story Monthly 36 and as the Euros start on 14th June we look ahead to the tournament and assess England's chances... Timings 1. FPSM from 17 mins 2. Euro pre-view from 41 mins 3. Roy Race plays for England from 67 mins

This weeks episode has Matt telling us about the comic life of that football comic strip legend "Nipper" from the pages of Score and Roar, via Scorcher and eventually Tiger..Gull tells us about the latest "Secret Wars" news and Bygone Berrigan replays another Football Picture Story Monthly story, this one from FPSM 108 "Highland Fling"...ably supported by Voice of Reason Simmo and hosted by Paul "Tangent" Richardson - enjoy!

In this weeks show we have Neil "Bygone" Berrigan rejoin us to review the pretty rare 1989 "Football Picture Story Special", Matt reviews the latest Rocky Race book, "Rocky's Big Move", and Simmo picks his best XI from "United" during the Champ/Victor years...be prepared for a controversial pick! The team also includes Tangent Paul and the return of Gull! It's a long show (apologies - we're useless at timings) so here are rough timings if you want to fast forward to a section... 1989 "Football Picture Story Special" - from 17 mins "Rocky's Big Move" - from 75 mins "United" XI - from 81 mins Enjoy!

Join "Tangent" Paul, Simmo and Matt once again for a football comic journey into the past...Simmo replays the "The Goals Of Jimmy Grant" the season when he played for "United" in the pages of "Victor", Paul gives us his comic XI made up from Danefield United and Kingsbay players and Matt covers all the times Roy Race went in goal from 1954/1993...how many times did he do it????

Welcome to another interview special! this time we talk to Roy of the Rovers artist from 1963 - 1965, Paul Trevillion! Roy is just one part of Paul's incredible career as a sports artist, he is also famous for creating "You Are The Ref!" which appeared under various guises in various publications but probably most famous in the pages of "Shoot". He is an incredible character, and so much fun to meet and interview. Enjoy!

He is back for the 3rd time! We are proud to welcome again, creator of "Striker" Pete Nash, book 26 is due out soon and so he popped into Champ Towers to have a chat about that and other bits and pieces...Gull and Tangent Paul do the interview, Matt is joined in the wings by Simmo! yes the voice of reason is back! Enjoy!

G'day! fair dinkum! bonzer! ...(er that's enough - Ed) in this special "Down Under" episode (I told you - Ed) we meet longtime fan of the show Lee Coulson, an Australian UK football comic fan! He tells us how he got into football and football comics and how he experienced comics thousands of miles away from the UK in a country where football is not the national sport...it's a really interesting story. We also cover comic stories over the years which have an Australian connection, and there's a Kangaroo quiz! of course there is! We can confirm no kangaroos were harmed in the making of this podcast.

It's always interesting hearing other football comic fans thoughts and memories of their favourite stories, storylines, characters etc...and on this weeks episode we meet and hear from, podcast listener Neil Berrigan! Neil's first Roy of The Rovers was 28th September 1985..an interesting period in the comic's history, and since then he's read and collected loads more, and also is a huge Football Picture Story Monthly and Champ/We Are United fan - it was great fun speaking with him, expertly interviewed by Tangent Paul, supported by myself Matt and Gull of the many voices... Here is the "downthetubes" article regarding circulation figures. https://downthetubes.net/british-comics-reference/the-british-comic-industry-questions-and-answers/british-comics-sales-figures-the-good-old-days/ Here's also the link to the "Whenshortswereshorts" Barrie Tomlinson episode https://open.spotify.com/episode/4nbsYXOZSxWeZQYeEIDh4l?si=jra3h8CZT1KkubTpJKEAHw

It's final day on the podcast this week! Danefield United are in the European Cup Final vs Torento - what will happen? How many times will Viktor faint? And Mike Preston's Select team play London United at "Super Wembley" in "The Challenge", will they beat Murdwells stars?.....finally we begin the look back at when Roy Race went in goal for Rovers...how many times? when? did he keep a clean sheet? All this will be revealed....

In this special episode we interview Times journalist, TV and Radio broadcaster, QPR fan and Roy of the Rovers fan, Giles Coren! he talks us through his memories of Roy of the Rovers, how he started reading it, the stories he liked, other comics he read, his love of Queens Park Rangers...and lots of other stuff! Enjoy!

Join the comic guys, Gull, Matt, Ridders and "Tangent" Paul as we travel back once again to the comic past...Paul does part 4 of Danefield Uniteds' European Cup run, it's the quarter final 2nd leg....Ridders does part 2 of "The Challenge" in Football Picture Story Monthly no.10 and "By Manitou!" it's "This is your comic life" for the legendary Johnny Cougar!

The reuniting of two comic industry legends, editor of "Tiger" and creator of the "Roy of The Rovers" comic, Barrie Tomlinson and "Roy of the Rovers" artist from 1975 - 1986, David Sque. What a joy it was to hear them regale us with stories and memories of that glorious 70s/80s comic period. Enjoy!

The comic guys are back - in this show we remember Melchester Rovers Duncan Mckay, Ridders starts a review of "The Challenge" Football Picture Story Monthly book, which covers the creation of a "SuperLeague" in the year 2000, and Paul Tangent is up to part 3 of the Danefield United European cup run...enjoy folks!

In this very special show we interview comic legend Barrie Tomlinson! former editor of "Tiger" and former group editor for Sports and Adventure at IPC where amongst many other things he devised, created and launched "Roy of the Rovers" comic, the most famous football comic in history. Enjoy.

Join the boys for the last episode of the year! Matt takes us back to the 1982 Christmas edition of "Roy of The Rovers", Tangent Paul does part 2 of Danefield United's 1981/82 European Cup run and Ridders finishes his review of Riverton United's Euro Mini-Nations Cup campaign

Join us for another journey back into the world of football comics! Gull introduces us to Charlie "Iron" Barr in the first issue of "Spike"..Ridders does part 2 of when "United" entered the Euro Mini-Nations Cup...and "Tangent" Paul does the first part of Danefield United's 1981/82 European Cup run. And there's other stuff too. It's a cracker!

Join Gull, Matt, Paul and Ridders in another episode of the very professional uk comic podcast. Ridders does part 1 of a review of Riverton United's sojourn into Europe in May 1984, Matt remembers the motor racing comic legend "Skid Solo" and also a lesser known, but familiar character "Hurry of the Hammers" and Paul takes the Masterchamp challenge on the 1982 World Cup - can you beat his score?

Join Gull, Ridders, Paul and Matt as they go back once again to 80's UK football comics...Ridders reviews Football Picture Story Monthly no.5 "The Nearly Man", Matt reviews "Rocky Takes L.A." and Paul finishes his Marks Brothers epic - will they will the UEFA Cup?!!....plus we pay our respects to Sir Bobby Charlton.

Join Gull, Simmo, Paul and Matt as they go back again to the heyday of UK football comics....Matt remembers the great Tubby Morton, arguably Melchester Rovers greatest goalkeeper, Gull introduces us to the "Unitedverse", how it goes back to 1945 and suggests what is alpha and beta canon...and Paul takes through part two of The Marks Brothers 1980/81 UEFA Cup run...will Micky "Flash" Jordan escape from his kidnappers? Tune in to find out....

Join Matt, Ridders and Paul as they once again take us back to the golden days of UK football comics...Ridders reviews "The Winners" Football Picture Story Monthly No.91 featuring "Kline and Powell" and Paul does part 1 of his replay of Kingsbay's UEFA Cup run in 1980/81....and it finishes on a cliffhanger in true Roy of the Rovers style! We are also joined by a very special guest, Ed Taylor, the creator of the superb "Roy of the Rovers comic 40 years on" Facebook site joins us to tell us a bit about how he got into comics, some of his favourite stories/characters and about why he created the site! Enjoy!

Join Matt, Gull and Simmo as they take us back to the glory years of british football comics...Matt relays how the love/hate bromance between Johnny Dexter and Viktor Boskovic began in "When Johnny met Victor", Gull takes the MasterChamp challenge (which band is in the studio to do the theme tune this week?) this episode it's on the cult Twin Peak TV series, questions put to him by "The Voice of Reason" Simmo and we catch up with how are teams are doing early on in the new season! Theme tune created by Tim Sque

Join Gull, Paul, Simmo, Ridders and Matt as they talk football comics! (and other stuff...) Ridders reviews "The Goalmaker" Football Picture Story Monthly no.76, Paul "The Tangent" manages to keep on topic (well most of the time..) and talks us through his comic storage system and it's the return of the MasterChamp Challenge as Simmo tests Ridders on his knowledge of the Toffees, his beloved Everton Football Club...has he bitten off more than he can chew...? Listen in and find out! Podcast theme tune created by Tim Sque