Melchester Rovers promotion to the top flight in the 1940s. And they finished runners-up in 1949, losing the title to North Ham just in the last game of the season. In 1954, however, the first "Roy of the Rovers" strip appeared, telling the story of the club and its star striker Roy Race (whose grandfather, Billy Race, had played for the club in the early part of the 20th century). Melchester finally became League Champions in 1958, and won the FA Cup the following season, by which time Race was captain. It was in the 1960s, however, that Rovers became a footballing
Roy of the Rovers edition in "Shoot" magazine, which had in the late 1980s published a parody called Ray of the Rangers. The comic strip was resurrected in July 1997, printed as short (usually two-page) features in the BBC's monthly "Match of the Day" magazine. These strips ran until the magazine's demise in May 2001. By then the strip's wholesome tone, often espousing the virtues of fair play and strong moral character, was beginning to seem old-fashioned. The editor of "Roy of the Rovers" comic, Barrie Tomlinson, has commented that "everyone seemed to be growing up a bit more quickly, and they wanted stories