"Champ/We Are United" - UK football comics

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

Join Gull, Paul and Matt as once again they chat (yes he's STILL talking) with the legendary Roy of the Rovers artist, David Sque! From the early days of his career (where he corrects a few things) to the golden Roy years, and what he's currently up to in the last year...it's a joy to chat with him. We cover speedway, Postman Pat and Ann Summers. Just a typical podcast episode really.

Join Matt and Ridders for the latest episode of our UK football comic podcast where Ridders reviews "The Dream" FPSM 417, and Matt takes us back to the very beginning of the famous "Mighty Mouse" strip in June 1979.....plus we look ahead to the next episode with the return of "Friend of the show" David Sque, the legendary "Roy of the Rovers artist", we also talk about recent comic purchases. Oh and Gull is back. Which is nice.