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 coach Saudi Arabian side Al Hahda. He then coached in Kenya before joining Icelandic 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 on 22 May that year, returning to manage Barry Town in the summer after they had gone full-time. He left Barry on 13 September 1995 after the overwhelming favourites for the League 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 of Don O'Riordan, just when it looked like the experienced Mick Buxton would take the job. Torquay finished bottom of the league at the end of the season, only remaining in the Football League because Conference champions Stevenage Borough's ground had not met the Football League criteria on time. He left Plainmoor 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 on 12 August 1997 to take up the manager's post at Brentford on 12 August 1997, working under Chief Executive David Webb. His spell at Brentford was not a success and he was sacked on 5 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 on 25 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 and Saudi Arabia. However, later that month he was appointed as manager of Drogheda United, one of his players being Jamie Impey, son of former Torquay manager John Impey.

On 2 October 2000 he was appointed as coach to the South African side Bush Bucks. He had previously coached the Zimbabwean side Jets and a side in Kenya. He quit the Bucks on 14 November, the reason cited being problems with his work permit, although it followed a confrontation with his assistant Mlungisi Ngubane which led to Ngubane resigning.He later became manager of Ugandan side Express, but was sacked on 14 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 side CAPS United and assist in team rebuilding caused by the loss of star player Blessing “Yogo-Yogo” Makunike (accidental death), but Alban Mafemba was named as coach instead."Harare Herald", 24 September 2007.]

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