- Eddie May
Edwin Charles May (born
19 May 1943 ) is an English former footballer and football manager.May was born in
Epping .Playing career
Eddie May joined Southend United from Dagenham in January 1965, making his league debut later that season. He went on to make 100 league appearances, scoring 3 times for the Shrimpers, before moving to Wrexham in June 1968 for a fee of £5,000. He became captain of the Wrexham side, making 334 appearances and scoring 35 goals before leaving on a free transfer in August 1976 when he joined Welsh rivals Swansea City, having spent the 1975 summer with NASL side
Chicago Sting . He scored 8 times in 90 games for the Swans before retiring from league football.Coaching and managerial career
May joined Leicester City as a coach in 1978, and was assistant manager as
Jock Wallace 's side won the Second Division title in the 1981–82 season. In 1983 he moved to Charlton Athletic as assistant manager, leaving in 1986 to coachSaudi Arabia n side Al Hahda. He then coached inKenya before joiningIceland ic side KS as manager in May 1988.In July 1988 May was appointed manager of Newport County after their relegation to the Conference. With County in financial turmoil, May left the following month and subsequently became assistant manager of Lincoln City. In 1989 he took over as coach of Norwegian side IFK Ravdeberg. In July 1991 he was appointed manager of Cardiff City, leading them to the Third Division title in 1993. As Cardiff struggled in their second season in Division Two, May was sacked on
28 November 1994 . He took over as manager of Barry Town in February 1995, but a month later was reappointed as manager of Cardiff City and oversaw their relegation back to Division Three. He left Cardiff on22 May that year, returning to manage Barry Town in the summer after they had gone full-time. He left Barry on13 September 1995 after the overwhelming favourites for theLeague of Wales title had lost two games in a row. After he left they went on to play 42 consecutive matches without defeat and duly won the title.He was appointed manager of Torquay United on
17 November 1995 after the sacking ofDon O'Riordan , just when it looked like the experiencedMick Buxton would take the job. Torquay finished bottom of the league at the end of the season, only remaining in theFootball League because Conference champions Stevenage Borough's ground had not met the Football League criteria on time. He leftPlainmoor in July 1996.He took over as caretaker manager of Irish side Dundalk for the last ten matches of the 1996–97 season, and on
23 May 1997 signed a one year contract as manager. However, he left Dundalk on12 August 1997 to take up the manager's post at Brentford on12 August 1997 , working under Chief Executive David Webb. His spell at Brentford was not a success and he was sacked on5 November 1997 .In the 1998 close-season he agreed to become manager of Welsh side Haverfordwest County, but instead joined Finnish side
FinnPa as manager. On returning from Finland, he became Director of Football at Haverfordwest, but left to manage Merthyr Tydfil early in December 1998, returning after only 24 hours on realising that the club's new owners didn't yet own the club. He later did become manager of Merthyr Tydfil, but was sacked on25 February 1999 by the club's new owners.In December 1999 the Torquay-based ‘’Herald Express’’ reported that May had just been appointed as coach to the Pakistan national side, having also previously coached in
Norway andSaudi Arabia . However, later that month he was appointed as manager of Drogheda United, one of his players being Jamie Impey, son of former Torquay managerJohn Impey .On
2 October 2000 he was appointed as coach to theSouth Africa n sideBush Bucks . He had previously coached theZimbabwe an side Jets and a side inKenya . He quit the Bucks on14 November , the reason cited being problems with his work permit, although it followed a confrontation with his assistantMlungisi Ngubane which led to Ngubane resigning.He later became manager ofUganda n side Express, but was sacked on14 May 2001 after a poor start to the league season. In July 2001 he was appointed manager of Zimbabwean side Highlanders. He won two league titles with Highlanders.After leaving Highlanders, May returned to Cardiff, where he ran a
bed & breakfast . There was speculation early in September 2007 that he would be named as manager of Zimbabwean sideCAPS United and assist in team rebuilding caused by the loss of star playerBlessing “Yogo-Yogo” Makunike (accidental death), butAlban Mafemba was named as coach instead."Harare Herald", 24 September 2007.]References
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