While recovering from injury, The Kid receives another unexpected telephone call from the President of his former club in Monte Carlo.
The President wants to discuss the approaching carnival season, but The Kid already knows that a cowboy-themed fancy-dress party has caused trouble inside the Madrid dressing room.
Another Call from the President
The Kid is temporarily sidelined with an injury when the President calls from Monte Carlo to see how he is recovering.
As usual, the President does not remain on the original subject for long.
He mentions that carnival season is approaching, prompting The Kid to reveal that the celebrations have already begun in Madrid.
A group of players have attended a Hollywood-style fancy-dress party dressed as cowboys.
Carnival Reaches the Dressing Room
Football dressing rooms are rarely quiet places, particularly when photographs or videos from a team party begin circulating.
The cowboy costumes provide plenty of amusement for the squad, but one player is less impressed than everyone else.
The Kid explains that the footage was shown inside the dressing room, where the jokes continued long after the party had ended.
For most of the players, it is harmless entertainment.
For The Kid’s fantasy goalkeeper, it becomes the final straw.
The Magnificent Seven
The situation becomes worse when two teammates begin humming the theme from The Magnificent Seven.
The famous Western reference is enough to turn an awkward dressing-room moment into a full cowboy joke.
The goalkeeper does not share their enthusiasm.
Rather than staying to hear the rest of the soundtrack, he storms off home.
When Footballers Become the Joke
Professional players regularly appear in carefully managed advertising campaigns and media photographs.
Fancy-dress parties are rather different.
Once an unusual costume reaches the dressing room, teammates can be relied upon to ensure it is never forgotten.
Storybook uses that familiar football dynamic to show how quickly a private joke can become a squad-wide event.
Fantasy Football Complications
The Kid is particularly concerned because the unhappy player is his first-choice fantasy goalkeeper.
An argument, an early departure or a loss of concentration could create a problem for the player’s real club and The Kid’s fantasy team.
Once again, The Kid views a dressing-room incident through the priorities of a fantasy football manager.
The costumes may be amusing, but dropped points are no laughing matter.
The Football Inspiration Behind the Comic
This episode was inspired by footballers attending a cowboy-themed fancy-dress celebration and the inevitable dressing-room humour that followed.
Players including Marcelo were known for bringing personality, style and humour to Madrid’s squad, making carnival and costume imagery a natural source of Storybook material.
The strip combines that light-hearted story with fantasy football, imagining how off-field distractions might concern somebody relying on one of the players for weekly points.
Characters Featured
The Kid
Recovering from injury, The Kid remains focused on his fantasy football team. He is less concerned about the costumes than the possibility of losing his preferred goalkeeper.
The President
The President calls from Monte Carlo to discuss The Kid’s injury and the approaching carnival season. His conversations have a habit of revealing the latest drama surrounding his former player.
Marcelo
The lively Madrid defender appears as part of the cowboy-themed celebrations. The costumes may entertain most of the squad, but they do not improve everybody’s mood.
The Fantasy Goalkeeper
The Kid’s first-choice goalkeeper becomes the target of dressing-room jokes after the party footage is shown. Hearing The Magnificent Seven theme proves to be one joke too many.
Behind the Gag
The joke combines three separate worlds: carnival costumes, classic Western films and fantasy football.
The President thinks they are discussing the carnival.
The dressing room thinks it has discovered a new cowboy.
The Kid only wants to know whether his fantasy goalkeeper will still play.
For the goalkeeper, the theme tune is the final straw.
Looking Back
Originally published in 2015, Cowboys continued Storybook’s use of genuine football personalities and off-field stories as the basis for fictional dressing-room humour.
It also showed how The Kid interprets almost every event according to its possible effect on his fantasy team.
The next episode explores what happens when football discipline becomes considerably more expensive.
