By Paul Nicholson
February 22 – Goalscoring legend Roy Race, the iconic Melchester Rovers striker who has created more ‘wonder moments’ than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi combined and has never been convicted of tax evasion, has a new boot deal.
The iconic cartoon character has signed with British sportswear brand Gola in a deal that will see him wear the new boots, designed in Melchester red and yellow, in all Roy of the Rovers illustrated fiction and graphic novel titles for the rest of the 2018/19 season.
Roy of the Rovers made his comeback in 2018 with publishers Rebellion and a new storyline that saw him starting out his professional career as a 16-year-old talent at Melchester.
Roy will be seen shaking the hand of Gola chairman Harvey Jacobson on the pitch at Mel Park in the pages of Roy of the Rovers: Foul Play which publishes March 7.
Melchester Rovers colour palette of red, yellow and black has been applied to the Gola Ativo 5 Gamma VX style.
Harvey Jacobson, Gola’s Chairman said: “Gola is so pleased to be sponsoring Roy Race for the second time and to a whole new generation of readers. The partnership is a fitting tribute to Gola’s long footballing heritage.” Gola first sponsored Melchester Rovers’ kit back in 1981.
Rebellion is a video games developer/publisher and leading publisher of comics and fiction, and acquired the Roy of the Rovers character as part of the takeover of Fleetway comics. Roy of the Rovers first appeared as a strip in Tiger in 1954, before becoming its own comic in
1976 and running for more than 800 issues.
Jason Kingsley, founder of Rebellion, said: “We’re delighted to have signed a boot deal for Roy, and Gola are the perfect partner! Gola had a great – and hugely popular – partnership with Roy of the Rovers in the past, and it’s great to be able to re-establish that relationship for the modern era. We’re sure Racey will be scoring plenty of goals with his awesome new boots!”
He better had, he has a renegotiation coming up at the end of the season.
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