MARTIN JOHNSON

My first inkling of football’s dubious relationship with sportsmanship and fair play came courtesy of a Roy of the Rovers episode in the old Tiger comic. Not involving Roy himself, but the overweight Melchester Rovers goalie Tubby Morton, who’d been warned by the manager to start shedding a few pounds if he wanted to stay in the team.
The plot involved Tubby being lured to a shed that had been filled with chocolate éclairs and cream cakes by the reserve keeper, who then locked him in, and only removed the padlock when it was time to report for trainin...