Former Player Remembers: Larry May (Part Two)
Picking up the story, Larry recalled the 1980/81 campaign, with the Club back in the old First Division, during which he continued his partnership at centre-back with Northern Ireland international John O’Neill.
“The were some really good players in the Second Division,” Larry reflected. “But the the First Division players were just that little bit better. They kept the ball more. They had more composure on the ball. The players were better, including the strikers I was up against. As a side, we were probably a little bit too young.
“I loved [Leicester City Manager] Jock Wallace to pieces, but there wasn’t enough experience in the side. He should have kept the experienced Eddie Kelly. That would have helped us more. We were all very young players apart from [goalkeeper] Mark Wallington.
“Jock was brilliant for me because he gave me my chance to become a regular in the team. He was a motivator. Everything was about working hard, being passionate about the game, being determined, and having the will to win.
“It was fantastic to play in what is now the Premier League,” Larry continued. “The players were better and the crowds were bigger, but at the end of the season, we went down. I would have loved to stay up and, if we had done, I think we might stayed for a few more years.
“I played against some great players that season. It was good to be able to pit yourself against them. Kenny Dalglish was brilliant. He was cunning. Joe Jordan was good in the air. Trevor Francis was very quick. Then there was Peter Withe, who I played against at Newcastle and Aston Villa. I liked testing myself against these players.
“We had some great days that season. We beat Liverpool (the current league champions and also European champions at the end of the season) at home and away. It was fantastic. Before we beat them at Anfield, they had been undefeated there for 85 games. At the end of the day, we beat Liverpool twice and ended up going down! It’s madness really but that’s football for you.”
The following season (1981/82), City reached the FA Cup Semi-Final at Villa Park against Tottenham Hotspur. Larry was an ever-present in this cup run. On the road to the last four, two matches stood out and Larry scored in both of them. These were the fourth-round tie at Hereford United and the quarter-final tie at Filbert Street against Shrewsbury Town.
“The game at Hereford was a scrappy old game. It was a soaking wet day and the pitch was really muddy. The game was a battle and a fight, but I managed to score the goal somehow and we scraped through which was great.
“The atmosphere at Filbert Street was unbelievable for the game against Shrewsbury. It was a packed house. We had three goalkeepers in that game. Mark Wallington (who hadn’t missed a game for seven years) was injured. Jock wanted him to carry on with his leg half hanging off! Alan Young took over in goal and then Steve Lynex. It was an eventful game. I scored and we won 5-2.
“The semi-final against Spurs was a big game. It was a nightmare for us really. I remember that Gary [Lineker] was clattered early on by their centre-half in the first five minutes. Spurs had Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle and Ossie Ardiles in their side.
“We gave it a good go, but Ian Wilson scored a freakish own goal when he tried to flip it back to Mark Wallington and Tommy Williams broke his leg. It wasn’t the best day for us. It would have been nice to get to Wembley, but we lost 2-0.”
There were no promotion play-offs in 1982. The top three teams were automatically promoted. Despite being fourth in the table with four games to go, Leicester only got one point from the last four games and finished eighth. That summer, Wallace left to become manager at Motherwell.
“I was absolutely gutted when he left,” Larry recalled. “I need to know that people like me as a person and, although I’d get the rough edge of his tongue off Jock, as everybody else did, I knew that he liked me and that he rated me as a player, but you have to try to get on with whoever comes in.”
Leicester City’s new Manager was the ex-Liverpool and England star, Gordon Milne, an experienced coach who had been successful at Wigan Athletic and Coventry City. Later in his career, he achieved great success managing in Turkey as well as having a spell in Japan.
“Gordon was very different to Jock,” Larry continued. “He picked me for every game that season until March but, and I don’t know what it was, I just felt that he didn’t fancy me as a player. I have no idea why, or what it was.
“Later that season, my first son was born, and he wasn’t very well so I hadn’t trained all week. Anyway, Gordon phoned me up and said: ‘Can you play against Grimsby?’ I’d been in hospital with my son all week and I ended up saying that I’d play, so I played at Grimsby, but my mind wasn’t right. After five or 10 minutes, I got sent off.
Gordon had a right go at me and, from that moment on, our relationship was damaged. I should’ve been a bit stronger and said that I couldn’t play. From then on, he played somebody else in my position. I’d never been dropped before. I’d always been a regular. After that I was in and out of the team for the rest of the season, which wasn’t for that long because it was March by then.
“At the end of the season (1982/83), we just nicked promotion and went up in third place. We did our pre-season training, but I wasn’t picked for the first game of the season. Then Gordon told me that the Club had had a few offers for me and that they’d accepted one from Barnsley.
“I didn’t want to hang around and not play. Also, one of my heroes (the ex-Leeds and England defender) Norman Hunter was Barnsley’s manager. He told me that he couldn’t believe that I wasn’t in Leicester’s side and said that I’d be in his team all the time. They offered me decent money, so I ended up signing for them.
“I should never have left Leicester. I was young and naïve. I must emphasise that I have absolutely nothing against Barnsley. They were a great club. It was well run, with good people there. Norman Hunter was my first manager and then we had Allan Clarke (the ex-Leicester, Leeds and England player).
“However, I should have stayed at Leicester and fought for my place. It’s the biggest regret of my life. I absolutely loved Leicester. I loved the people, I loved playing for the Club, and I still believe that I would probably have ended up staying there for the rest of my life, perhaps getting a job at the Club one day, like people do.”
Thinking back on his successful three-and-a-half seasons at second tier Barnsley, Larry continued: “I was Player of the Year there a couple of times, but I injured my knee there again. That’s what blighted me throughout my career, because there were always rumours that a lot of clubs looked at me.”
In February 1987, Larry returned to the top flight when he signed for Sheffield Wednesday, managed by Howard Wilkinson, for a fee of £250,000.
Asked about his time playing at Hillsborough, Larry remembered: “Wednesday are a big club and I wanted to get back into the top flight. I liked what Howard said and I liked him, so I went there for the last part of the 1986/87 season.
“They paid £250,000 for me which was a lot of money at that time. The next season, I was playing well but, after the first four or five games, my knee was injured. I was out for a few weeks and, when I tried to come back, I was never able to play as well as I could.
“Then they brought Nigel Pearson in as well and we played together for a bit. We had some good players in that side like David Hirst, Gary Megson, Lee Chapman, Mark Chamberlain, Brian Marwood and Mel Sterland. Then Howard accepted an offer from Brighton for me and I went there.”
He had spent one-and-a-half seasons at Hillsborough, before moving to Brighton & Hove Albion in September 1988.
“Brighton bought me for £200,000,” Larry explained. “They’d just won promotion from the old Third Division. Their manager, Barry Lloyd, came up to see me in Wakefield where I lived. He said his side was young and needed experience. I was offered a decent contract and I signed.
“I’d always liked the Brighton area so we moved down there. I enjoyed my time at Brighton. I played about 28 or 29 games but, towards the end of the season, I damaged my knee again, but at least I’d helped them to stay up.
“I tried to train in the pre-season, but my knee kept swelling up all the time. I thought I couldn’t keep doing this, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to walk when I was about 45. I’d done my coaching badges when I was 28. In hindsight, I must have known that I might have to finish playing early.
“As I’d done all my coaching badges, Lloydy (Barry Lloyd) asked me to be the reserve team coach and I ended coaching at Brighton for seven or eight years. As well as the reserves, I coached the first and third teams too, with Barry and Martin Hinshelwood. We did everything between us really.
“Next, I spent three years as the youth team coach at Portsmouth with Martin again, which was lovely and, after that, I became the first football development officer for Crawley Borough Council. I set up activities in schools, on holiday courses and establishing development centres for the local authority. It became very big.
“I did that for three years and then worked for the FA as the football development manager for Surrey, working with the FA with local schools and local teams. Then, after two or three years, I was asked to go back to Brighton & Hove Albion as their football development manager, running all of their football projects for their community schemes. It was very successful.
“I had four development officers at East Sussex, West Sussex, Mid Sussex and Brighton & Hove Albion. We turned over £2.5M every year, but it wasn't really about the money. It was about the number of participants in our projects. I worked there for 10 years and it was my last job in football. My wife and I then lived in Portugal for a few years.
“I loved my time as a footballer. I’m very lucky to have been in football for most of my life. It’s been a great experience. You meet some great people and have some great times. I still love watching football too, although I can’t stand VAR!”