| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edwin Charles May | ||
| Date of birth | 19 May 1943 | ||
| Place of birth | Epping, England | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| -1965 | Dagenham | ||
| 1965-1968 | Southend United | 105 | (3) |
| 1968-1976 | Wrexham | 334 | (35) |
| 1975 | → Chicago Sting (loan) | 18 | (7) |
| 1976-1978 | Swansea City | 90 | (8) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1988 | Newport County | ||
| 1991-1994 | Cardiff City | ||
| 1995 | Cardiff City | ||
| 1995-1996 | Torquay United | ||
| 1997 | Brentford | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Edwin Charles May (born 19 May 1943) is an English former footballer and football manager.
May was born in Epping.
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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 leading them to an FA Cup quarter final only to lose out by the odd goal against Burnley and May also skippered the side when they reached the Quarter Final of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1976 before going out to Anderlecht 2-1 on aggregate.
May made 334 appearances for The Racecourse club scoring 35 goals all with his head 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.
In recent years, May has been inducted into The Wrexham FC Hall of Fame.
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 to Lennie Lawrence, 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 Tornado FK.
In July 1991 he was appointed manager of Cardiff City, and during his three years at Ninian Park masterminded the Division Three title and Welsh Cup double in 1993 and humbled Manchester City in the FA Cup the following year. May is still a legend among Cardiff fans and was affectionately nicknamed The Ayatollah. Such was May's impact at Cardiff, he was invited to manage one of the sides that officially opened the new Cardiff City Stadium on 4 July 2009 in a Legends match. Ironically the opposing manager was the man that May was assistant to at Charlton Athletic, Lennie Lawrence, who also managed Cardiff during his career.
May was later 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.
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.[1]
He also had a spell with Telecom Wanderers of Malawi.
May returned to Wales and in October 2009 he took up the position of manager of Porthcawl Town, a side playing in the McWhirter Welsh Football League Division Two. He left the club in January 2010.
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