Striker (comic)
Encyclopedia
Striker was a comic strip
and magazine which was featured in the tabloid newspaper The Sun
from 1985 until 2009 and in the British magazine Nuts
from January to October 2010. It was created by Pete Nash
. Since its inception, the strip revolved around the life of Nick Jarvis (a former player and manager of the Premiership side Warbury Warriors. Jarvis initially played for the non-league Oakville before moving to First-Division side Thamesford, who were plagued by injuries. He stayed with Thamesford for nine years, quitting in 1994 and winding up at Conference
side Warbury. He and the team achieved various promotions (reaching the Premier League in 1999), were relegated twice in succession and then promoted again. They won the Championship
play-offs at the end of the 2005–2006 season, which meant they were playing in the Premier League for 2006–2007. That season, Warbury finished in sixth place (which meant they would be playing in the UEFA Europa League in 2007–2008. That season Warbury finished fourth in the league, gaining them a place in the Champions League during the 2008–2009 season. They also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to Aberdeen. A year later Warbury beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Champions League final, guaranteeing them a place in the following year's Champions League Group Stages (in the new format, where winners get automatic promotion to the group stages). They also survived in the Premiership after beating Portsmouth 2-1 to finish in 17th place.
The strip first appeared in 1985 in a black-and-white format, changing to colour in 1990. It retained the drawn style until 1998, when it was relaunched as Striker VR in a 3D-rendered format. While praised for its new style (3D-rendered art was rare at the time), Nash was not satisfied with the results and for the rest of the year used the drawn format. The 3D format returned in early 1999, with the strip renamed Striker 3D. The strip's popularity was evident; by 2001, all but two of The Suns other comic strips had been dropped to allow space for Striker.
In late 2003, Striker broke away from The Sun and became its own magazine. While it still maintained a loyal fan base, many larger retailers refused to stock it and it suffered from financial problems throughout its run. It nearly folded in mid-2004, but was saved by a share issue to its readers. The magazine lasted for another year before ceasing production in 2005. In the meantime The Sun replaced Striker with its own 3D football strip, called The Premier. The Premier was derided for its poor-quality art (which was initially compared unfavourably to Striker VR, although it later improved somewhat) and predictable, ludicrous story lines; when it left The Sun, The Premiers plot was quite similar to a storyline in Striker three years earlier. After an uncertain few months (when it appeared in the Daily Record
), it was agreed to bring Striker back to The Sun in October 2005 (replacing The Premier). The Striker archives are available online. Part of the storyline from summer 2004 reappeared in The Sun as a flashback conversation between Eric, Nick and Vanessa.
Thamesford:
In the strip, Thamesford were based in and around London
and managed by Jim Cassidy. Shortly after Jarvis joined the club, another striker (Gary Lewis) decided Nick was a threat to him and framed him for rape. Lewis' plot failed when the accusing girl proved to be mentally unstable at trial, claiming to have slept with a host of First Division players. Lewis' involvement in the affair remained unknown to most, but he soon found himself in trouble when he drunkenly crashed a car he was driving. In a panic, he swapped his unconscious girlfriend (who was also Jarvis' ex-girlfriend) into the driver's seat told the police she was the driver. Nick eventually proved that Lewis was the driver, resulting in Lewis' imprisonment for subverting the course of justice.
Other plot lines included Jarvis being framed for drug possession; a club chairman from America fleeing a guilt-ridden past; Jarvis being forced (at gunpoint) to marry the pregnant daughter of a Mafia
boss; helping a Russian player and his wife defect to the West; and getting involved with a juvenile delinquent with promising football skills and an abusive father. Many plots revolved around Jarvis' relationship with manager Jim Cassidy (who frequently called for aspirin
for the headaches Jarvis and others caused him, and desired his players to appear more on the—sporting—back pages of the newspapers rather than the headlines in front.
Jarvis bought a house from the club's newly-appointed chairman, and the chairman's father (who was his predecessor as chairman) had stipulated in his will that the owner of the house also owned his estate and the football club. After attempting to murder Nick, the chairman nearly bankrupted the club before fleeing the country. Nick sold the property to pay some of the club's debts, but a disgruntled former director of the club persuaded their bank to initiate bankruptcy procedures. Nick and Cassidy were forced to sell every player except Nick and a few younger players, filling out the squad from cheap (or free) transfers from lower-league clubs. Shortly after an FA Cup
victory in 1994, Nick sold his stake in the club and left. By this time, however, he was considered past his prime; the only club interested in him were the Conference side, Warbury.
During the Thamesford years, the position of club chairman seemed to be cursed. Several died, two fled the country to escape prosecution and Nick had a hard time as club owner; the chairman with the smoothest ride was rock star Rod Stewart
.
Warbury era:
Jarvis joined the Warbury Warriors as player-manager, under a brief from chairman Eric Openshaw to get the side to the Premier League by 1998 (which would have meant getting promotion every year afterwards). Openshaw had a bet with the owner of a supermarket chain that he could do this; if Warbury failed, he would bankrupt the club and hand their ground over to his rival. Openshaw was nearly successful, since the side lost the 1998 Division One play-off final. By that time it was irrelevant; a former player burned the stadium down the previous year, invalidating the bet.
Warbury reached the Premiership the following year, struggling before finding their feet in their second season. Openshaw's refusal to spend money on extra players took its toll during their third season, and the side was relegated. Afterwards, two corrupt businessmen (Bullion-Browne and Grubbet) purchased Warbury to close the club down, since they only wanted the land Gasworks Road stadium sat on. Jarvis was forced out, and the club went briefly out of business. Their plan eventually failed when it was discovered that a 1 foot (0.3048 m) "ransom strip" around the whole ground was owned by an old lady named Ethel, who would not give permission for the ground to be used for anything other than sport. Without the stadium, they lost interest in their acquisition and sold it back to Openshaw. Jarvis played for an Australian club until his leg was severed in a shark
attack. Although his leg was reattached, his playing days were over. He returned to Warbury near the end of the season but, since the players were out of condition and the facility dilapidated, they were again relegated.
In Division Two the side won promotion easily, but the season was marred by two events. Openshaw's wife Vanessa was kidnapped by a gang who forced the club to lose to Manchester United in a League Cup match. The criminals' ineptitude made it easy for the police to catch them, however, and the result was voided (although United won the rematch). Due to injuries to their main goalkeepers Jarvis signed an American goalkeeper, Chuck Rivers. Rivers suffered from depression and abused drugs; he committed suicide after some of his former drug dealers nearly killed one of his teammates.
In the Championship (the former Division One), Openshaw sold part of the club to a Russian gangster known as Boris Anokov. Gary Lewis (now managing a nearby pub) hatched a new plot: he would fake his own death at Jarvis' hands and claim the insurance money. Anokov found Lewis useful; he made him turn the pub into a brothel
, giving Lewis the money to buy the pub and transfer it to Boris. Lewis never bought the pub, fleeing to the Cayman Islands
with Boris' money. Jarvis was nearly convicted for the murder, but Lewis eventually confessed to the crime (after Anokov was killed by a rival gangster) and was imprisoned.
After a poor start to the 2005–2006 season (and being refused permission to sign Joe Rock, a player from The Premier), Jarvis attempted to resign and become manager of Portsmouth
. However, Openshaw recorded an insulting phone call made by Jarvis, edited it and replayed it to Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric
; Jarvis seemed to be turning down the job offer and insulting Mandaric. A Chinese businesswoman (Li Ming) bought the club to turn them into the country's top side, and Openshaw remained in charge. Desperate to receive a £10 million payout promised by Li if Warbury was promoted to the Premiership, Openshaw convinced Jarvis to sign Ramiro Alvarez (a player from Juventus
). Alvarez, however, spoke no English, played badly and went AWOL when Jarvis refused to play him in the first team (as promised by Openshaw). Alvarez' high salary caused unrest between Jarvis and the players. Li Ming was unhappy with her investment, telling Jarvis he would be fired if Warbury filed to reach the Premiership at the end of the season.
As the season continued, Jarvis and Li Ming began to fall in love, and during a session of martial artsthey decided to pursue a relationship. When Openshaw vanished under mysterious mysterious circumstances, Vanessa discovered that he arranged a DNA test for his son Todd which had proven he was not the boy's father (Jarvis was). Meanwhile, Warbury won the play-off final and would be returning to the Premiership after a four-year absence. Li Ming's father discovered her relationship with Jarvis, and demanded its end. Her rivalry with Vanessa for Jarvis' affections led her to fire him.
Openshaw returned several weeks after he disappeared; he had gone hiking to Devon to clear his head after finding out about Todd's lineage. He then walked the moors for some time, before being bitten by a snake (and claiming it was an adder
, though he suffered no ill-effects from the bite). Looking for help, he found a pub run by a woman called Doris. Eric and Doris fell in love; when they returned to Warbury, Eric told Vanessa he would divorce her and marry Doris.
Li Ming was unable to find a new manager, as none of the candidates (including Sven-Göran Eriksson
) were suitable. She rehired Nick, telling him she did not want to restart their relationship. When she informed her father she would not be handing over control of the club to her brother, her father slapped her and told his daughter that he would cut off her trust fund. With the club in dire straits (and favourites for relegation at the end of the season), Li Ming found herself under pressure to raise money to buy new players. With the transfer window about to close until January, Li Ming secured an investment fund to buy players; the conditions were that she was only given a limited selection of players to choose from and if they were sold, the fund would take most of the profits.
Due to bad blood between Li Ming and her father, the Warbury chairwoman was attacked in the Warbury club car park and then kidnapped. Li's captors demanded a £2 million ransom from Li's father. As Li's father and brother finally reached the hideout, Li was escaping. She heard a shot and ran outside, to see her father lying motionless on the floor. Her brother, Chan, told her the captors had shot him; he then turned the gun on Li, saying he had to kill her because their father favoured Li . Li tried to reason with Chan; their father woke up and distracted him, and he dropped the gun. However, after punching Li Chan grabbed the gun. About to shoot, he slipped, fell down a well and died. Li's father then told her he was sorry for trying to control her decisions and left everything to her.
Li Ming Wong is the owner of the club after buying it from Eric Openshaw. In 2006, Li Ming Wong was kidnapped and taken to a hideout. The kidnappers requested £2 million from Li's father, who was accompanied by Li's brother on his way to the transaction. Li escaped and ran outside to hear a gunshot. She saw her dying father on the floor, soon discovered her vengeful brother Chen was behind the kidnap. Chen was going to kill her, when he fell to his death down a mine shaft.
Eric Openshaw is the club's chief executive. He made his fortune from a pork factory, where he started as a carcass-griller. He was forced to sell the factory to raise money for the club's second stadium in 1997. Eric has a strong northern accent. He often seems like a buffoon. Openshaw is tight with his money, and argues with Jarvis over his unwillingness to pay for players. Since becoming chief executive, Openshaw has done everything possible to ensure Warbury are promoted to the Premiership to gain the £10 million promised by Li Ming. He questioned his son Todd's paternity; after discovering his true parentage, he divorced his wife Vanessa and met a woman his own age, Doris.
Vanessa Openshaw is Eric's wife. She has cheated on him with Nick and most of the team, making little secret of the fact that she married Eric for his money. As a result of a liaison with Nick she conceived a son, Todd. She told Eric that he was the father, although the baby shared neither Vanessa's nor his hair colour and their sex life was almost nil. Eventually, Eric discovered the truth. In 2006 she began dating a player, Fabian de Guisson.
Celia Montgomery is a relationship counsellor who counselled Fabian de Guisson and Vanessa Openshaw in February and March 2007. After mediating between Fabian and Vanessa, Celia asked to see each of them separately. During her first session with Fabian he came on to her, prompting her to scream for help and accuse Fabian of sexually harassing her. In a Warbury bookshop, Fabian was signing copies of his autobiography when he saw Montgomery and asked her if she would press charges against him. As she tried to escape him her dress caught on the shop door and was ripped off, leaving her in her underwear in the street. The case was dismissed when Fabian's lawyer lied that he had acted as he had because of a mental condition, and Fabian spent time in a mental hospital.
Montgomery reappeared at the Gasworks Road stadium in September 2007 as the club's sports psychologist.
Dave Boreham is Nick's assistant. He had an undistinguished playing career, the highlight of which was nearly winning promotion to Division Two with Newport County
in 1983. Dave has managed the team on a few occasions, including in 2002–2003 when Nick quit and again when Nick was jailed for Gary Lewis' apparent murder in 2005. Dave has a beautiful daughter named Alex, who worked as a lap dancer.
Rufus Lebonque is the side's first-choice goalkeeper. Nick spotted him in Haiti
after his holiday in Barbados
went awry, and signed him after a court order forced the club to sign more non-white players. As a result of this, Teflon Davis was transfer-listed and went on a drinking binge that resulted in his death. Rufus' performance was poor until he started wearing Voodoo face paint. The team once had their summer break in Haiti at a hotel owned by Rufus’ uncle, an Elvis impersonator. He has a Jamaican accent, and believes that it may be because his relatives come from there.
Tim Cavendish and Ryan Evans are the side's two reserve players.
Scrapper Griswell plays defence. He had anger-management problems, and was a target for opposing players (despite his great stature). He has had two stints in prison: one when he was falsely accused of rape, and another when he broke into the office of the club's owners in 2002 to find out what their plans for the club were. He has recently married Bertha, a stewardess at the club and a bog snorkelling
champion. Their wedding ended in disaster when a flood forced their guests to swim to safety.
Mehmet Hassan is a Turkish fullback, signed in summer 2006.
Phil Austin is a homosexual defender. His partner is named Lance.
Gerald de Courcey is another defender, and formerly captain of the club. He has a degree in ancient Greek philosophy, but took up football after finding out that his degree was not helpful in finding a job. He is an intellectual snob, and will sometimes make intelligent-sounding arguments on subjects which have no truth behind them. He was once spotted reading The Joy of Sub-particle Physics in bed.
Kurt Panzer (a.k.a Klaus Gerber) plays midfield, and is the club's no-nonsense captain. He is nicknamed "The Tank" and has an interest in military history. His favourite phrase is "Zat is very silly".
Groucho Mendoza is an Argentinian defender, known for his greasy mullet and unpleasant odour. His girlfriend, Eva Gerron, was forced into performing sex acts on Boris Anokov as an act of blackmail.
Joe Rock is a utility player, who generally prefers midfield. He was originally one of the main characters in The Premier and left the club after its new owner, a Mafia
boss, had him assaulted for questioning the running of the club. Joe was Nick's first signing after Li Ming took over.
Danny Brooks is a midfielder, signed from Manchester United in summer 2006. In late 2006 he accompanied Vanessa Openshaw, who was dating Fabian de Guisson at the time, to the cinema. Vanessa discovered Fabian there with another woman; he then accused her of cheating with Brooks.
Callum Angelo is one of the team's main forwards. He had a troubled life due to his poor background (his mother, Donna, works as a dominatrix
in order to make ends meet, despite Callum's sizable income), but is one of the team's best players. Callum and Scrapper were sent to prison for breaking into the office of the club's owners in late 2002 to find evidence of suspicious goings-on. He was briefly set to transfer to Newcastle
in 2004, but was stabbed by Chuck Rivers' former drug dealers and the transfer was called off while he recovered. Callum and Ewan Merenghi fought in August 2007, when Ewan gave Callum a bloody nose for taunting him about his marriage to Cindy.
Fabian de Guisson is the side's other main forward. He joined from Paris St. Germain for £500,000 during Warbury's first Premiership season. He regards himself as too good for the club, and constantly talks of moving to a bigger team. He has a son, Romeo, from a one-night stand. He considered giving Romeo up for adoption, but changed his mind upon discovering that Romeo was a good footballer. In March 2007, Fabian's sexual-assault case brought by Celia Montgomery was dismissed when Fabian's lawyer lied about his mental condition. Fabian spent time in a mental hospital, where he argued with the patients and had sex with a doctor he thought was his; his real doctor diagnosed him with a severe case of narcissism
.
Ewan Merenghi is the side's first-choice forward. He was signed from Cowdenbeath, Scotland (also known as the Blue Brazil) and Nick signed him on the recommendation of a former teammate from Thamesford. He has dropped out of favour in the side, with new player Mikael Torvern preferred in front. On the team's trip to Los Angeles in summer 2007 Ewan got drunk and married Cindy, an American girl his teammates called a gold-digger. Cindy then revealed to Ewan that she had substantial money of her own, clearing up his doubts about her. Cindy was planning to divorce Ewan for half his money. Before she could do this she was murdered by her American ex-boyfriend, Kyle Banner.
Mikael Torvern is a striker, signed in 2006. He soon began to score plenty of goals and firmly established his spot in the team, replacing Ewan Merenghi.
When Li Ming took over at Warbury, her father was unhappy about it. When Li began a relationship with Jarvis, her father ordered her to end it and fire him. She did, but eventually gave him his job back. During summer 2006, her father visited Li at Gasworks Road with her brother Chan. Li was attacked by thugs in the car park but fought them off, believing the attack to be orchestrated by her father. A short time later, Li was attacked by the same thugs at her house and kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded £2 million from Li's father. Li's father and brother went to the place where Li was being held with the ransom. Meanwhile, Li hatched a plan to escape from where she was being held. As Li's father and brother arrived she killed one of the three kidnappers, escaped and knocked the remaining two kidnappers out. She heard a single gunshot, and raced up to find her father lying on the ground. She turned to Chan for help, only to see that he was pointing the gun at her. Chan revealed he had shot their father and would do the same to her, as he was sick of being made to feel worthless by them both. Li pleaded with him; as he prepared to shoot, their father distracted him by calling out. Li kicked the gun out of her brothers hand; when Chan recovered his gun and prepared to shoot again, he stumbled and fell 150 ft down an unused mine shaft to his death. Li made peace with her dying father, who left his £15 billion fortune to her.
Scrapper and Bertha's wedding:
During summer 2006, Scrapper Griswell married his girlfriend Bertha. Since Bertha was a champion bog snorkeller, the wedding was held at a peat bog in Wales where the annual bog-snorkelling tournament took place. Rufus's Uncle Luis provided music and entertainment for the wedding. During the reception Fabian first made advances towards Vanessa Openshaw, taking her outside to a portable toilet for some privacy. However, Fabian's nanny Mona discovered what they were up to, and pushed the portable toilet over. Meanwhile, due to Scrapper's negligence the party was disrupted by a flood and the guests had to swim to safety through the bog. Fabian and Vanessa's portable toilet drifted out into open water; they were airlifted to safety, with a news report suggesting they used the toilet as a makeshift boat.
Fabian in court:
During February 2007 Fabian de Guisson began attending relationship counselling with his partner Vanessa Openshaw, with both claiming the other was cheating on them. The counsellor, Celia Montgomery, decided to see them both separately. At their first session, Fabian made advances towards her, Soon after, Fabian was signing copies of his autobiography
Je Suis Magnifique at a Warbury bookshop, when he saw Montgomery. He asked her whether she would be pressing charges. As she struggled to get away, her dress caught in the door and came off, leaving her in her underwear in the street. Fabian ended up in court, accused of sexual harassment
. The case went badly, however, Fabian's lawyer lied that he had acted because of a mental condition. As a result, Fabian was sent to a mental hospital. There, he made a plan to seduce his doctor so that she would sign his release papers. However, after he made love to the wrong doctor his real doctor arrived, diagnosing him with narcissism
.
Los Angeles trip:
In summer 2007, Li Ming Wong organised a tournament in Los Angeles. A few days into the trip, Jarvis arranged for him, Eric, Scrapper, Gerald, Fabian, Phil and Callum to have a plane tour of the Grand Canyon. However, plane trouble soon forced the pilots to crash-land in the water. Scrapper took the others on a raft to go for help. However, the strong current blew the raft off course, leaving the five in the raft in danger and Jarvis and the two pilots stranded. With a flare gun and a rope from the cockpit, Nick and the pilots were able to pull themselves to safety. The players' raft went down a waterfall, leaving the five stranded in a clearing. Scrapper and Callum went to find food, as Gerald told Eric, Fabian and Phil the legend of Bigfoot. The anxious players hear a gunshot from the woods. Three hillbillies emerge and engage in conversation with the players before Scrapper returns with Callum, attacks the hillbillies and escapes with the rest of the team. They find refuge in a cave, and Scrapper volunteers to search for the nearest town. When the others awaken, they find a large, gorilla-like monster standing at the cave's entrance. Gerald screams, only for the "monster" to pull off its fake head and reveal itself as Scrapper. The hillbillies, he explained, wanted him to wear this costume to bring back tourists and make people think a Bigfoot-type creature lived there. Openshaw wanted to leave, and looked for Scrapper. When he sees a gorilla-type monster searching through a bin and calls it, Scrapper asked why he was shouting. They turned to see the real monster, and ran for their lives.
Jim Sykes:
Ewan Merenghi's agent
, Jim Sykes, arrived early one season. Ewan's wife
Cindy wished to be his agent and talked to Sykes about doing so. Sykes rejected Cindy's offer, but the two met at a hotel later on with Cindy attempting to bribe Sykes into accepting. During an investigation by the FA, it was discovered that Openshaw bribed Sykes during Merenghi's signing. Openshaw met Sykes and asked him for help, which Sykes refused. Openshaw went to church to pray for a way out; soon after, Sykes was found dead in his apartment from a gunshot wound to the head. Openshaw was arrested and questioned; his lack of an alibi and clear motive made him the prime suspect. Kyle Banner (Cindy Merenghi's ex-boyfriend), it turned out, killed Sykes to keep him from warning Merenghi about Banner.
Story's end:
During the 2009 preseason Warbury toured China, during which Jarvis and Li Ming planned to marry. During a banquet, Li Ming informed the guests that she had arranged for Jarvis to become manager of China's national team so they could win the World Cup. Angry at not being consulted, Jarvis turned down the job offer. The wedding was called off, with Li Ming vowing revenge. She sold the club to Fabian, who thought he had a bargain until Jarvis and Openshaw told him the club no longer had a stadium or any players; instead, they had a points deduction for going into bankruptcy and failing to provide a team. The only asset the club had was a piece of farmland which could only be developed as a football stadium. Fabian sold the land to Scrapper, who thought he could use it for housing since Fabian did not disclose the football-stadium provision. As Scrapper and his wife surveyed their seemingly-worthless land, a wealthy sheik offered to buy it.
The final strip appeared in The Sun on 18 September 2009.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
and magazine which was featured in the tabloid newspaper The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
from 1985 until 2009 and in the British magazine Nuts
Nuts (magazine)
Nuts is a weekly lad mag published in the United Kingdom. It was the first weekly lads magazine to be published in the UK and is sold every Tuesday...
from January to October 2010. It was created by Pete Nash
Pete Nash
Pete Nash is the creator of the football comic strip Striker, which appears daily in The Sun newspaper. In 2003 Nash, who owns the rights to the strip, parted company with The Sun in order to launch his own comic featuring the character. Despite investment from readers, the comic ceased...
. Since its inception, the strip revolved around the life of Nick Jarvis (a former player and manager of the Premiership side Warbury Warriors. Jarvis initially played for the non-league Oakville before moving to First-Division side Thamesford, who were plagued by injuries. He stayed with Thamesford for nine years, quitting in 1994 and winding up at Conference
Football Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
side Warbury. He and the team achieved various promotions (reaching the Premier League in 1999), were relegated twice in succession and then promoted again. They won the Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
play-offs at the end of the 2005–2006 season, which meant they were playing in the Premier League for 2006–2007. That season, Warbury finished in sixth place (which meant they would be playing in the UEFA Europa League in 2007–2008. That season Warbury finished fourth in the league, gaining them a place in the Champions League during the 2008–2009 season. They also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to Aberdeen. A year later Warbury beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Champions League final, guaranteeing them a place in the following year's Champions League Group Stages (in the new format, where winners get automatic promotion to the group stages). They also survived in the Premiership after beating Portsmouth 2-1 to finish in 17th place.
History
Publication:The strip first appeared in 1985 in a black-and-white format, changing to colour in 1990. It retained the drawn style until 1998, when it was relaunched as Striker VR in a 3D-rendered format. While praised for its new style (3D-rendered art was rare at the time), Nash was not satisfied with the results and for the rest of the year used the drawn format. The 3D format returned in early 1999, with the strip renamed Striker 3D. The strip's popularity was evident; by 2001, all but two of The Suns other comic strips had been dropped to allow space for Striker.
In late 2003, Striker broke away from The Sun and became its own magazine. While it still maintained a loyal fan base, many larger retailers refused to stock it and it suffered from financial problems throughout its run. It nearly folded in mid-2004, but was saved by a share issue to its readers. The magazine lasted for another year before ceasing production in 2005. In the meantime The Sun replaced Striker with its own 3D football strip, called The Premier. The Premier was derided for its poor-quality art (which was initially compared unfavourably to Striker VR, although it later improved somewhat) and predictable, ludicrous story lines; when it left The Sun, The Premiers plot was quite similar to a storyline in Striker three years earlier. After an uncertain few months (when it appeared in the Daily Record
Daily Record (Scotland)
The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...
), it was agreed to bring Striker back to The Sun in October 2005 (replacing The Premier). The Striker archives are available online. Part of the storyline from summer 2004 reappeared in The Sun as a flashback conversation between Eric, Nick and Vanessa.
Thamesford:
In the strip, Thamesford were based in and around London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and managed by Jim Cassidy. Shortly after Jarvis joined the club, another striker (Gary Lewis) decided Nick was a threat to him and framed him for rape. Lewis' plot failed when the accusing girl proved to be mentally unstable at trial, claiming to have slept with a host of First Division players. Lewis' involvement in the affair remained unknown to most, but he soon found himself in trouble when he drunkenly crashed a car he was driving. In a panic, he swapped his unconscious girlfriend (who was also Jarvis' ex-girlfriend) into the driver's seat told the police she was the driver. Nick eventually proved that Lewis was the driver, resulting in Lewis' imprisonment for subverting the course of justice.
Other plot lines included Jarvis being framed for drug possession; a club chairman from America fleeing a guilt-ridden past; Jarvis being forced (at gunpoint) to marry the pregnant daughter of a Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss; helping a Russian player and his wife defect to the West; and getting involved with a juvenile delinquent with promising football skills and an abusive father. Many plots revolved around Jarvis' relationship with manager Jim Cassidy (who frequently called for aspirin
Aspirin
Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...
for the headaches Jarvis and others caused him, and desired his players to appear more on the—sporting—back pages of the newspapers rather than the headlines in front.
Jarvis bought a house from the club's newly-appointed chairman, and the chairman's father (who was his predecessor as chairman) had stipulated in his will that the owner of the house also owned his estate and the football club. After attempting to murder Nick, the chairman nearly bankrupted the club before fleeing the country. Nick sold the property to pay some of the club's debts, but a disgruntled former director of the club persuaded their bank to initiate bankruptcy procedures. Nick and Cassidy were forced to sell every player except Nick and a few younger players, filling out the squad from cheap (or free) transfers from lower-league clubs. Shortly after an FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
victory in 1994, Nick sold his stake in the club and left. By this time, however, he was considered past his prime; the only club interested in him were the Conference side, Warbury.
During the Thamesford years, the position of club chairman seemed to be cursed. Several died, two fled the country to escape prosecution and Nick had a hard time as club owner; the chairman with the smoothest ride was rock star Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
.
Warbury era:
Jarvis joined the Warbury Warriors as player-manager, under a brief from chairman Eric Openshaw to get the side to the Premier League by 1998 (which would have meant getting promotion every year afterwards). Openshaw had a bet with the owner of a supermarket chain that he could do this; if Warbury failed, he would bankrupt the club and hand their ground over to his rival. Openshaw was nearly successful, since the side lost the 1998 Division One play-off final. By that time it was irrelevant; a former player burned the stadium down the previous year, invalidating the bet.
Warbury reached the Premiership the following year, struggling before finding their feet in their second season. Openshaw's refusal to spend money on extra players took its toll during their third season, and the side was relegated. Afterwards, two corrupt businessmen (Bullion-Browne and Grubbet) purchased Warbury to close the club down, since they only wanted the land Gasworks Road stadium sat on. Jarvis was forced out, and the club went briefly out of business. Their plan eventually failed when it was discovered that a 1 foot (0.3048 m) "ransom strip" around the whole ground was owned by an old lady named Ethel, who would not give permission for the ground to be used for anything other than sport. Without the stadium, they lost interest in their acquisition and sold it back to Openshaw. Jarvis played for an Australian club until his leg was severed in a shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
attack. Although his leg was reattached, his playing days were over. He returned to Warbury near the end of the season but, since the players were out of condition and the facility dilapidated, they were again relegated.
In Division Two the side won promotion easily, but the season was marred by two events. Openshaw's wife Vanessa was kidnapped by a gang who forced the club to lose to Manchester United in a League Cup match. The criminals' ineptitude made it easy for the police to catch them, however, and the result was voided (although United won the rematch). Due to injuries to their main goalkeepers Jarvis signed an American goalkeeper, Chuck Rivers. Rivers suffered from depression and abused drugs; he committed suicide after some of his former drug dealers nearly killed one of his teammates.
In the Championship (the former Division One), Openshaw sold part of the club to a Russian gangster known as Boris Anokov. Gary Lewis (now managing a nearby pub) hatched a new plot: he would fake his own death at Jarvis' hands and claim the insurance money. Anokov found Lewis useful; he made him turn the pub into a brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
, giving Lewis the money to buy the pub and transfer it to Boris. Lewis never bought the pub, fleeing to the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
with Boris' money. Jarvis was nearly convicted for the murder, but Lewis eventually confessed to the crime (after Anokov was killed by a rival gangster) and was imprisoned.
After a poor start to the 2005–2006 season (and being refused permission to sign Joe Rock, a player from The Premier), Jarvis attempted to resign and become manager of Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
. However, Openshaw recorded an insulting phone call made by Jarvis, edited it and replayed it to Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric
Milan Mandaric
Milan Mandarić is a Serbian-American business tycoon who has owned a string of successful businesses and football clubs including Portsmouth, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday. He currently is the chairman of Sheffield Wednesday...
; Jarvis seemed to be turning down the job offer and insulting Mandaric. A Chinese businesswoman (Li Ming) bought the club to turn them into the country's top side, and Openshaw remained in charge. Desperate to receive a £10 million payout promised by Li if Warbury was promoted to the Premiership, Openshaw convinced Jarvis to sign Ramiro Alvarez (a player from Juventus
Juventus F.C.
Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...
). Alvarez, however, spoke no English, played badly and went AWOL when Jarvis refused to play him in the first team (as promised by Openshaw). Alvarez' high salary caused unrest between Jarvis and the players. Li Ming was unhappy with her investment, telling Jarvis he would be fired if Warbury filed to reach the Premiership at the end of the season.
As the season continued, Jarvis and Li Ming began to fall in love, and during a session of martial artsthey decided to pursue a relationship. When Openshaw vanished under mysterious mysterious circumstances, Vanessa discovered that he arranged a DNA test for his son Todd which had proven he was not the boy's father (Jarvis was). Meanwhile, Warbury won the play-off final and would be returning to the Premiership after a four-year absence. Li Ming's father discovered her relationship with Jarvis, and demanded its end. Her rivalry with Vanessa for Jarvis' affections led her to fire him.
Openshaw returned several weeks after he disappeared; he had gone hiking to Devon to clear his head after finding out about Todd's lineage. He then walked the moors for some time, before being bitten by a snake (and claiming it was an adder
Adder
Adder may refer to:Snakes:* Any of several groups of venomous snakes of the Viperidae family including Vipera berus, the common European adder, found in Europe and northern Asia...
, though he suffered no ill-effects from the bite). Looking for help, he found a pub run by a woman called Doris. Eric and Doris fell in love; when they returned to Warbury, Eric told Vanessa he would divorce her and marry Doris.
Li Ming was unable to find a new manager, as none of the candidates (including Sven-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson , in Sweden commonly referred to just by his nickname Svennis, is a Swedish ex-football manager. From October 2010 to October 2011 he managed Football League Championship side Leicester City....
) were suitable. She rehired Nick, telling him she did not want to restart their relationship. When she informed her father she would not be handing over control of the club to her brother, her father slapped her and told his daughter that he would cut off her trust fund. With the club in dire straits (and favourites for relegation at the end of the season), Li Ming found herself under pressure to raise money to buy new players. With the transfer window about to close until January, Li Ming secured an investment fund to buy players; the conditions were that she was only given a limited selection of players to choose from and if they were sold, the fund would take most of the profits.
Due to bad blood between Li Ming and her father, the Warbury chairwoman was attacked in the Warbury club car park and then kidnapped. Li's captors demanded a £2 million ransom from Li's father. As Li's father and brother finally reached the hideout, Li was escaping. She heard a shot and ran outside, to see her father lying motionless on the floor. Her brother, Chan, told her the captors had shot him; he then turned the gun on Li, saying he had to kill her because their father favoured Li . Li tried to reason with Chan; their father woke up and distracted him, and he dropped the gun. However, after punching Li Chan grabbed the gun. About to shoot, he slipped, fell down a well and died. Li's father then told her he was sorry for trying to control her decisions and left everything to her.
Characters
Nick Jarvis is the main character of the strip.Li Ming Wong is the owner of the club after buying it from Eric Openshaw. In 2006, Li Ming Wong was kidnapped and taken to a hideout. The kidnappers requested £2 million from Li's father, who was accompanied by Li's brother on his way to the transaction. Li escaped and ran outside to hear a gunshot. She saw her dying father on the floor, soon discovered her vengeful brother Chen was behind the kidnap. Chen was going to kill her, when he fell to his death down a mine shaft.
Eric Openshaw is the club's chief executive. He made his fortune from a pork factory, where he started as a carcass-griller. He was forced to sell the factory to raise money for the club's second stadium in 1997. Eric has a strong northern accent. He often seems like a buffoon. Openshaw is tight with his money, and argues with Jarvis over his unwillingness to pay for players. Since becoming chief executive, Openshaw has done everything possible to ensure Warbury are promoted to the Premiership to gain the £10 million promised by Li Ming. He questioned his son Todd's paternity; after discovering his true parentage, he divorced his wife Vanessa and met a woman his own age, Doris.
Vanessa Openshaw is Eric's wife. She has cheated on him with Nick and most of the team, making little secret of the fact that she married Eric for his money. As a result of a liaison with Nick she conceived a son, Todd. She told Eric that he was the father, although the baby shared neither Vanessa's nor his hair colour and their sex life was almost nil. Eventually, Eric discovered the truth. In 2006 she began dating a player, Fabian de Guisson.
Celia Montgomery is a relationship counsellor who counselled Fabian de Guisson and Vanessa Openshaw in February and March 2007. After mediating between Fabian and Vanessa, Celia asked to see each of them separately. During her first session with Fabian he came on to her, prompting her to scream for help and accuse Fabian of sexually harassing her. In a Warbury bookshop, Fabian was signing copies of his autobiography when he saw Montgomery and asked her if she would press charges against him. As she tried to escape him her dress caught on the shop door and was ripped off, leaving her in her underwear in the street. The case was dismissed when Fabian's lawyer lied that he had acted as he had because of a mental condition, and Fabian spent time in a mental hospital.
Montgomery reappeared at the Gasworks Road stadium in September 2007 as the club's sports psychologist.
Dave Boreham is Nick's assistant. He had an undistinguished playing career, the highlight of which was nearly winning promotion to Division Two with Newport County
Newport County A.F.C.
Newport County Association Football Club are a professional football club based in the city of Newport, south Wales, who currently play in the Conference National, the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
in 1983. Dave has managed the team on a few occasions, including in 2002–2003 when Nick quit and again when Nick was jailed for Gary Lewis' apparent murder in 2005. Dave has a beautiful daughter named Alex, who worked as a lap dancer.
Rufus Lebonque is the side's first-choice goalkeeper. Nick spotted him in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
after his holiday in Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
went awry, and signed him after a court order forced the club to sign more non-white players. As a result of this, Teflon Davis was transfer-listed and went on a drinking binge that resulted in his death. Rufus' performance was poor until he started wearing Voodoo face paint. The team once had their summer break in Haiti at a hotel owned by Rufus’ uncle, an Elvis impersonator. He has a Jamaican accent, and believes that it may be because his relatives come from there.
Tim Cavendish and Ryan Evans are the side's two reserve players.
Scrapper Griswell plays defence. He had anger-management problems, and was a target for opposing players (despite his great stature). He has had two stints in prison: one when he was falsely accused of rape, and another when he broke into the office of the club's owners in 2002 to find out what their plans for the club were. He has recently married Bertha, a stewardess at the club and a bog snorkelling
Bog snorkelling
Bog snorkelling is a sporting event that consists of competitors completing two consecutive lengths of a water filled trench cut through a peat bog, in the shortest time possible. Competitors must wear snorkels and flippers, and complete the course without using conventional swimming strokes,...
champion. Their wedding ended in disaster when a flood forced their guests to swim to safety.
Mehmet Hassan is a Turkish fullback, signed in summer 2006.
Phil Austin is a homosexual defender. His partner is named Lance.
Gerald de Courcey is another defender, and formerly captain of the club. He has a degree in ancient Greek philosophy, but took up football after finding out that his degree was not helpful in finding a job. He is an intellectual snob, and will sometimes make intelligent-sounding arguments on subjects which have no truth behind them. He was once spotted reading The Joy of Sub-particle Physics in bed.
Kurt Panzer (a.k.a Klaus Gerber) plays midfield, and is the club's no-nonsense captain. He is nicknamed "The Tank" and has an interest in military history. His favourite phrase is "Zat is very silly".
Groucho Mendoza is an Argentinian defender, known for his greasy mullet and unpleasant odour. His girlfriend, Eva Gerron, was forced into performing sex acts on Boris Anokov as an act of blackmail.
Joe Rock is a utility player, who generally prefers midfield. He was originally one of the main characters in The Premier and left the club after its new owner, a Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss, had him assaulted for questioning the running of the club. Joe was Nick's first signing after Li Ming took over.
Danny Brooks is a midfielder, signed from Manchester United in summer 2006. In late 2006 he accompanied Vanessa Openshaw, who was dating Fabian de Guisson at the time, to the cinema. Vanessa discovered Fabian there with another woman; he then accused her of cheating with Brooks.
Callum Angelo is one of the team's main forwards. He had a troubled life due to his poor background (his mother, Donna, works as a dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
in order to make ends meet, despite Callum's sizable income), but is one of the team's best players. Callum and Scrapper were sent to prison for breaking into the office of the club's owners in late 2002 to find evidence of suspicious goings-on. He was briefly set to transfer to Newcastle
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
in 2004, but was stabbed by Chuck Rivers' former drug dealers and the transfer was called off while he recovered. Callum and Ewan Merenghi fought in August 2007, when Ewan gave Callum a bloody nose for taunting him about his marriage to Cindy.
Fabian de Guisson is the side's other main forward. He joined from Paris St. Germain for £500,000 during Warbury's first Premiership season. He regards himself as too good for the club, and constantly talks of moving to a bigger team. He has a son, Romeo, from a one-night stand. He considered giving Romeo up for adoption, but changed his mind upon discovering that Romeo was a good footballer. In March 2007, Fabian's sexual-assault case brought by Celia Montgomery was dismissed when Fabian's lawyer lied about his mental condition. Fabian spent time in a mental hospital, where he argued with the patients and had sex with a doctor he thought was his; his real doctor diagnosed him with a severe case of narcissism
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
.
Ewan Merenghi is the side's first-choice forward. He was signed from Cowdenbeath, Scotland (also known as the Blue Brazil) and Nick signed him on the recommendation of a former teammate from Thamesford. He has dropped out of favour in the side, with new player Mikael Torvern preferred in front. On the team's trip to Los Angeles in summer 2007 Ewan got drunk and married Cindy, an American girl his teammates called a gold-digger. Cindy then revealed to Ewan that she had substantial money of her own, clearing up his doubts about her. Cindy was planning to divorce Ewan for half his money. Before she could do this she was murdered by her American ex-boyfriend, Kyle Banner.
Mikael Torvern is a striker, signed in 2006. He soon began to score plenty of goals and firmly established his spot in the team, replacing Ewan Merenghi.
Plot lines
Li Ming Wong kidnapping:When Li Ming took over at Warbury, her father was unhappy about it. When Li began a relationship with Jarvis, her father ordered her to end it and fire him. She did, but eventually gave him his job back. During summer 2006, her father visited Li at Gasworks Road with her brother Chan. Li was attacked by thugs in the car park but fought them off, believing the attack to be orchestrated by her father. A short time later, Li was attacked by the same thugs at her house and kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded £2 million from Li's father. Li's father and brother went to the place where Li was being held with the ransom. Meanwhile, Li hatched a plan to escape from where she was being held. As Li's father and brother arrived she killed one of the three kidnappers, escaped and knocked the remaining two kidnappers out. She heard a single gunshot, and raced up to find her father lying on the ground. She turned to Chan for help, only to see that he was pointing the gun at her. Chan revealed he had shot their father and would do the same to her, as he was sick of being made to feel worthless by them both. Li pleaded with him; as he prepared to shoot, their father distracted him by calling out. Li kicked the gun out of her brothers hand; when Chan recovered his gun and prepared to shoot again, he stumbled and fell 150 ft down an unused mine shaft to his death. Li made peace with her dying father, who left his £15 billion fortune to her.
Scrapper and Bertha's wedding:
During summer 2006, Scrapper Griswell married his girlfriend Bertha. Since Bertha was a champion bog snorkeller, the wedding was held at a peat bog in Wales where the annual bog-snorkelling tournament took place. Rufus's Uncle Luis provided music and entertainment for the wedding. During the reception Fabian first made advances towards Vanessa Openshaw, taking her outside to a portable toilet for some privacy. However, Fabian's nanny Mona discovered what they were up to, and pushed the portable toilet over. Meanwhile, due to Scrapper's negligence the party was disrupted by a flood and the guests had to swim to safety through the bog. Fabian and Vanessa's portable toilet drifted out into open water; they were airlifted to safety, with a news report suggesting they used the toilet as a makeshift boat.
Fabian in court:
During February 2007 Fabian de Guisson began attending relationship counselling with his partner Vanessa Openshaw, with both claiming the other was cheating on them. The counsellor, Celia Montgomery, decided to see them both separately. At their first session, Fabian made advances towards her, Soon after, Fabian was signing copies of his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Je Suis Magnifique at a Warbury bookshop, when he saw Montgomery. He asked her whether she would be pressing charges. As she struggled to get away, her dress caught in the door and came off, leaving her in her underwear in the street. Fabian ended up in court, accused of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
. The case went badly, however, Fabian's lawyer lied that he had acted because of a mental condition. As a result, Fabian was sent to a mental hospital. There, he made a plan to seduce his doctor so that she would sign his release papers. However, after he made love to the wrong doctor his real doctor arrived, diagnosing him with narcissism
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
.
Los Angeles trip:
In summer 2007, Li Ming Wong organised a tournament in Los Angeles. A few days into the trip, Jarvis arranged for him, Eric, Scrapper, Gerald, Fabian, Phil and Callum to have a plane tour of the Grand Canyon. However, plane trouble soon forced the pilots to crash-land in the water. Scrapper took the others on a raft to go for help. However, the strong current blew the raft off course, leaving the five in the raft in danger and Jarvis and the two pilots stranded. With a flare gun and a rope from the cockpit, Nick and the pilots were able to pull themselves to safety. The players' raft went down a waterfall, leaving the five stranded in a clearing. Scrapper and Callum went to find food, as Gerald told Eric, Fabian and Phil the legend of Bigfoot. The anxious players hear a gunshot from the woods. Three hillbillies emerge and engage in conversation with the players before Scrapper returns with Callum, attacks the hillbillies and escapes with the rest of the team. They find refuge in a cave, and Scrapper volunteers to search for the nearest town. When the others awaken, they find a large, gorilla-like monster standing at the cave's entrance. Gerald screams, only for the "monster" to pull off its fake head and reveal itself as Scrapper. The hillbillies, he explained, wanted him to wear this costume to bring back tourists and make people think a Bigfoot-type creature lived there. Openshaw wanted to leave, and looked for Scrapper. When he sees a gorilla-type monster searching through a bin and calls it, Scrapper asked why he was shouting. They turned to see the real monster, and ran for their lives.
Jim Sykes:
Ewan Merenghi's agent
Sports agent
A sports agent procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for an athlete.In return, the sports agent generally receives between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, though these figures vary...
, Jim Sykes, arrived early one season. Ewan's wife
Wife
A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...
Cindy wished to be his agent and talked to Sykes about doing so. Sykes rejected Cindy's offer, but the two met at a hotel later on with Cindy attempting to bribe Sykes into accepting. During an investigation by the FA, it was discovered that Openshaw bribed Sykes during Merenghi's signing. Openshaw met Sykes and asked him for help, which Sykes refused. Openshaw went to church to pray for a way out; soon after, Sykes was found dead in his apartment from a gunshot wound to the head. Openshaw was arrested and questioned; his lack of an alibi and clear motive made him the prime suspect. Kyle Banner (Cindy Merenghi's ex-boyfriend), it turned out, killed Sykes to keep him from warning Merenghi about Banner.
Story's end:
During the 2009 preseason Warbury toured China, during which Jarvis and Li Ming planned to marry. During a banquet, Li Ming informed the guests that she had arranged for Jarvis to become manager of China's national team so they could win the World Cup. Angry at not being consulted, Jarvis turned down the job offer. The wedding was called off, with Li Ming vowing revenge. She sold the club to Fabian, who thought he had a bargain until Jarvis and Openshaw told him the club no longer had a stadium or any players; instead, they had a points deduction for going into bankruptcy and failing to provide a team. The only asset the club had was a piece of farmland which could only be developed as a football stadium. Fabian sold the land to Scrapper, who thought he could use it for housing since Fabian did not disclose the football-stadium provision. As Scrapper and his wife surveyed their seemingly-worthless land, a wealthy sheik offered to buy it.
The end of Striker
After a strip failed to appear in the Saturday, 8 August 2009 issue of The Sun, Pete Nash sent an email to those complaining about its absence:The final strip appeared in The Sun on 18 September 2009.
The second demise
On 13 September 2010, Pete Nash announced on the Striker Fans Forum that Striker would cease publication in Nuts magazine effective 5 October. There are no plans for a return in another publication, since Nash wants to focus his attention on "other projects".External links
- Striker: The final whistle, The SunThe Sun (newspaper)The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
- Final whistle is blown on Sun's Striker | The Sun |News