Melchester Rovers Melchester Rovers 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. 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 (three titles in succession and four FA Cup finals in the 1930s). But, according to the Annuals, Melchester Rovers were a third division struggling club in the 1930s, until they gained
Roy of the Rovers that were more realistic". There has been no new material since 2001, but reprints of the strip have appeared online and in print. The "Roy of the Rovers" website has archived all of the "Match of the Day" years' material, in addition to excerpts from other classic strips. In October 2007, Setanta bought the original strips, which they featured on their web site. Then-rights holder, Egmont, published a 64-page "collectors edition" of the comic strip in April 2009, gathering together a number of 1980's era Roy of the Rovers stories in addition to other backup strips from the comic. Two