An unusual set to start us off with, issued by the Sunday Empire News, which started off in 1884 as "The Umpire", was only published on a Sunday, and dealt for the most part in sports. In 1917, bought by Hulton Press, it was subtly changed to be called "The Empire", and then "The Empire News". Under that name it was responsible for a long running series of small football statistics yearbooks called the Sunday Empire News Annual, the earliest of which I have found is 1937-38. The paper went through several owners and the Annuals became the News of the World and Empire News Football Annual for the season 1961-1962.
However I have not tracked down that they issued any other sets or cards, unless you know different? Also I have to wonder why this set only appears in our most recent British Trade Index, not the original four volumes, but it was being issued in 1953 right when they were being published . So is it a recent discovery?
As for my other question, who was Mickey Darling, well that has been solved. It is actually Mickey Durling, who not only drew many footballing cartoons and indeed had a regular slot called "Our Pin Up" in the Sunday Empire News, but whose work was also featured in The Charles Buchan Monthly.
The Roald Dahl connection was the team, Cardiff City, which he supported in a casual way as a schoolboy in the 1920s - for he was born in Cardiff, and they would have been his local team.