Roy of the Rovers focus switched to Roy's son Rocky, who also played for Melchester. This publication was short-lived, and folded after only 19 issues. The adventures of the Race family were subsequently featured in the monthly "Match of the Day" football magazine, in which father and son were reunited as manager and player respectively. These strips began in 1997 and continued until the magazine's closure in May 2001. Football-themed stories were a staple of British comics for boys from the 1950s onwards, and Roy of the Rovers was the most popular. To keep the strip exciting, Melchester was almost every year either competing
Roy of the Rovers as "a hot rocking heavy metal rap", which failed to chart in the UK Top 40. The confectionery company McCowans produced a pineapple-flavoured "Roy of the Rovers" chew bar in the 1990s. On 29 February 2008 it was announced that Titan Books had acquired worldwide book publishing rights to a range of Egmont's comic strips, including Roy of the Rovers. The first of their compilations of Roy's playing days, "The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s" was released in May 2008 and included the "Relegation" and "Who Shot Roy" story arcs. "The Bumper Book of Roy of the