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The Times & The Sunday Times
The Times & The Sunday Times
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Toon army

Comic book heroes
By Calvin Shulman
The Times
By Calvin Shulman
The Times

24. WILLIAM GRAY

ROY OF THE ROVERS

“Blackie” Gray joined Melchester Rovers at the same time as Roy Race in 1954 and the two became a force together on and off the field. An inside forward, Blackie played for England, but after a serious road accident in 1991 he struggled to regain his former glories and was often kept out of the Rovers team by his son, Mark “Cracker” Gray. Blackie became Rovers’ player-manager in 1983 after Roy moved to Walford Rovers but stood down on the great man’ s return. He took over again but left the club a broken man after an FA inquiry into match-fixing in 1994.