“Roy of the Rovers” British Football Magazine

1990 Holiday Special Issue

In Goalkeeper Rick is training with Tynefield City and Jimmy Rockwell spots he is not good at punching the ball so he takes him for private training. When Tynefield play Oldcastle Rick has a great game including a really great punch out at the end which leads to the winning goal. It then transpires that the private training has been using a punchbag in the gym.

Melchester are playing bottom of the league Bramford Albion who have just signed midfielder Billy Bateman(7) otherwise known as Billy the Bullet because of his hot shot. Billy scores an early goal and is also a dirty player making sly tackles off the ball and angering the Rovers players. At half time Rovers are 1-0 down and the Rovers players want revenge but Roy convinces them to just play like a team. Early on Roy equalises and then Billy gets sent off for punching Steve Naylor(I think) in the back off the ball. Rovers carry on and Roy heads a late winner.

In Playmaker, coach John Butcher spots that Andy has a weakness in heading the ball and calls him in for extra training. The next game is against Woodburn Athletic who have the tallest team in the league and guess who scores the winning goal with a diving header.

The text story revolves around Pak Soon. He is playing a great game against league leaders Hartford United and scores a hat trick in a 3-0 win. After the game he receives a telegram saying that some members of his family are coming to see him for a month. During training Mervyn Wallace reports to Roy that Pak is not his usual self and Roy thinks it masy be something to do with the visit. Pak says everything has gone fine and Rovers play Stamford City in a league game. Pak is caught in possession and Stamford score and from there Pak just doesn’t get into the game. At half time Roy subs Pak with Glen Ritchie but Rovers end up losing 2-0. After the game Pak leaves early and catches the train back to Melchester to meet his relatives before Roy can speak to him so Roy goes to the house that Pak has rented for his relatives. Roy finds Pak cooking a meal for his 2 Aunts, 6 Uncles, 5 nephews & 2 nieces. It turns out as their host he has to do everything including the washing and cleaning and is sleeping on a straw mat in the shed. The family then are angrty with Roy because they have come to see a great footballer but have only seen a good housekeeper. Pak explains that he has to look after them and they say they came to see him play football. Roy invites Pak to stay at his house and when Rovers play Deans park in the FA Cup 4th round Pak scores 2 in a 5-3 victory.The family are happy and Roy takes them all out for a meal after the game.

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